


Silk!!

by sombreset



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Series
Genre: F/F, F/M, Lots of alcohol, M/M, Obnoxious entertainment industry AU, drug reference and use, minor mentions of parental abuse, past bullying, sexual content/humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2018-12-23 01:01:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 31,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11978811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sombreset/pseuds/sombreset
Summary: Yugi is a world renowned EDM artist with a bit of a party problem, but everyone loves him (from a safe distance). Probably the happiest person on Earth. Also a little vulgar with a poor diet.Seto Kaiba is the owner of the world's largest sound production company, a record label, an amusement park, and anything else he wants. He signed as well as sponsors Yugi for all of his festivals and gigs.Atem is an aerial silk dancer that lives in his quiet studio downtown. Very kind, but a little old fashioned. Thinks that having a bike, movies, and some old vinyls will probably entertain him forever.After a run-in (and a few bad jokes) at the same bar, Yugi and Atem somehow become fond of each other even though Atem hates the "electrical vomit," and Yugi thinks that Atem is the most senile person he's ever seen.





	1. TRACK 1. Genesis

**A SIDE**

 

The lights dimmed out, and everyone was suddenly aware of how cold it was outside. They all watched the stage, waited. Talked and shouted amongst themselves. Pulsating waves of violet LEDs surrounded the grand speakers on the set. 

Judai looked around, tried to stand tall enough to see over the masses of people in front of him. They were all adorned in paint and ribbons. He crinkled his face when he saw a girl’s shorts barely covering her asscheeks, another man’s hand resting on her hips. 

“Gross.”

He looked around. He spotted a relatively short man that seemed to be in his mid twenties, well built, with a fucking  _ gorgeous  _ complexion. He was complaining to two other people, boy and a girl his age, maybe a bit younger, both fairly taller than he was. Judai eavesdropped to pass time, shuffled a little closer and pretended to swipe in random directions on his phone. 

“Come  _ on _ , Atem. The last artist fucking sucked but  _ this  _ one is worth it!” It was the girl talking. Shouting, rather. She wrapped her arms around the nice complexion guy. He didn’t look too happy. Judai pretended to text something. Glanced over. Heard his friend next to him nag something about typing on a blank screen and accidentally clicking on apps. 

“I told you, this is just…” the nice complexion man apparently named Atem sighed. “This isn’t my type of thing,” he enunciated, obviously speaking louder than his comfort level. 

“I know, I know, but…” The girl shrugged and went from Atem’s side to the other person's and wrapped her arms around him instead. She was pouting cheesily, stomping her feet. “You never want to do stuff with us anymore! You never step foot out of your dumb studio!” 

“ _ Mana _ ,” the tall man snapped warningly, picking her arms off of him. Judai was glancing at him through the sides of his bangs.  _ Fuck, tall guy’s hair is so long.  _

“Judai,” he felt Jun slap the back of his head. “You’re blatantly staring at them. What are you, five?” 

“Look at that guy though,” Judai replied, pointing at the group to their left. To the grumpy complexion guy. “He’s  _ so  _ fucking  _ short. _ ”

“Mahad,” he heard the girl better than anyone else in the fucking crowd, “that kid over there is pointing at Atem. Do you think he,” Judai jumped slightly when the girl cut herself off with a scream, violently shaking Mahad’s shoulder. She was staring at the stage, jumping like the ground had fucking snakes everywhere. 

“Look!” 

Judai followed her eyes and saw shadows moving in the dark. 

The stage suddenly was silent, colors seemed to seep like vines from the floor, vivid hues of blue, purple, and pink twisting towards the sky. It was only when the stage began to illuminate that Judai saw how ridiculously  _ elaborate  _ the setup was. Lights were littered all over, a LED display with videos of flashing designs, smoke poured everywhere. The vines made of rays wrapped around everything. Faint glows of blue and green. 

The ground began to shake,  _ the bass was ridiculous _ , and people began to stir and scream, obnoxious clapping and shouting. 

Judai looked over.  _ Everyone except for the short person.  _ The girl next to him had climbed on top of the long haired guy’s shoulders, Mahad or something, her arms flailing to and fro so fast he was convinced he would either fall over or drop her. 

Suddenly, a vicious smack to the back of Judai’s head.

“I’m not going to go to these things with you anymore if you just sit there and stare at strangers the whole time. Didn’t anyone ever teach you how to  _ not _ be an indecent child?” 

Judai shrugged. 

His cheek twitched when he felt the starting signs of rain, and the lights,  _ the fucking blinding lights,  _ they all shot up towards the sky. 

And through the annoyingly bright array and the lights that shined like purple beacons that tinted the clouds, he saw  _ him _ . 

The noises, they slowly faded out before returning in a fucking  _ Godly  _ cacophonous explosion.

Atem shrunk back a bit when the lights shined in his eyes and the music was so  _ loud  _ that he wouldn’t be surprised if everyone at the concert was nearly deaf. Mana hadn’t stopped shouting since the music started. He only knew because he saw her face; he couldn’t hear fucking  _ anything _ but the blaring sounds, loud synthesizers and ... _ brass instruments.  _

He didn’t get it. It sounded like a fucking  _ mess _ . But, a concert was a concert and the person on stage (who seemed to nearly have the fucking  _ same hairstyle as him _ ) was so full of energy he thought he might combust. 

It was raining hard, now. The DJ was nearly climbing on his equipment, throwing his chest and arms out to the rhythm of his own creations, strings of hair stuck to his cheeks. He was smiling, fingers gripping the knobs of his turntable with care and precision, yet pressed so firmly that they turned white. 

And despite how much Atem hated the jumping, the strangers next to him who kept on shoving his shoulder and stumbling into him, he had to admit that the energetic spazz was interesting to watch at the very least. The music was bizarre and terrible, but he obviously  _ loved  _ what he was doing, what he was creating.

Now Atem was just waiting for him to slip and fall or something after he started climbing on the set like it was a fucking jungle gym. 

The rain was heavy, shoes and bare feet scraping grass out of the soil, slick skin-  _ sweaty  _ skin kept on brushing his arm and he bit his lip to keep his composure. And, people kept on swinging their  _ fucking hair  _ into Atem’s face. He tapped Mahad on the shoulder. He turned to look at him, Mana resting her head on top of his.

_ Mana looked like a fucking giant.  _ An overly excited, adorable, giant. 

“I’m getting water,” Atem shouted with his hands cupped around his mouth but it didn’t work because whatever song the “musician” was playing got infinitely louder, everyone else consequently screeching at the stage. 

“What?” Mahad attempted to reply, but his voice didn’t carry further than his teeth. 

Atem rolled his eyes and pushed his way out of the crowd, glancing back at the stage every now and then. The DJ’s fashionably ripped black T-shirt was soaked by now and there were neon streaks of paint all over him. His face was tilted towards the sky, hands grasping towards an unreachable  _ something, _ his body rolling in tempo with the...music. And this DJ looked happier and more full of life than anyone,  _ anything,  _ Atem had ever seen.

“But your music is obnoxious,” Atem muttered. But he couldn’t hear himself talk.

! :^) !

“You’re going to end up tripping on something and busting your head open one of these days if you keep on jumping around the stage like a fucking crackhead.” Jou knelt down and handed a water bottle to the sweating, grinning, heaving mess of a person on the floor. 

“Wouldn’t call myself a crackhead but if you  _ have  _ some I wouldn’t say nay.”

Jou settled next to him, leaned against the backstage support beams. 

“Hey dude,” the smaller man rubbed his forehead on Jou’s shoulder, “do I smell like shit?” 

Snagging back the water bottle and smacking him on the head, Jou got up and began to walk away. 

“Firstly,  _ yes _ you’re a sweaty disgusting little bastard, secondly, you have an encore to play.” 

The other man stood up after an impressive effort. “You’re still gonna come party afterwards, right?” 

“Yeah,” Jou threw the water bottle back at him. “Who else would make sure you don’t set your own house on fire?”

“True. Y’always look out for me, babe.” 

“Stop calling me babe,” Jou threw his fingers up and made quotation marks in the air, “ _ Silk.” _

The other man started walking towards the stairs that lead back on stage. “What, you don’t like my cute nickname?” 

Jou laughed, “I wouldn’t call you  _ or  _ your music cute, Yugi.” 

“Good,” he smiled sweetly, “because if  _ did  _ you called me cute I’d cut your fucking legs off.”

“What, so I’d be at your height level?”

Yugi started to turn around and say a clever retort before Jou flicked his hand towards the stage and left through curtains of black. 

! :^) !

Atem noticed the concert had ended when he checked back at the venue after circling around nameless houses in nearby suburbs for half an hour. Not that it had gone silent or anything, people were  _ still _ screaming. He was a bit irritated because the loud bass had scared  _ every  _ nearby cat enough for them to hide under the closest porch. 

He sighed.  _ Poor cats. _

Atem flipped his phone open to find that he had 13 unopened text messages and 4 missed calls from Mahad. 

He had started to text him back and nearly dropped his phone when it started vibrating with Mahad’s name outlined against the cheaply lit screen. Atem didn’t want to play it out like he had ignored him.  _ Again.  _ He lifted the phone to his cheek.

“Hello?” 

“Don’t  _ ‘hello’ _ me, Atem! Where the fuck did you go?” Mahad’s voice distorted unpleasantly the louder he shouted. 

“I went for a walk, the concert was too loud.” 

“It’s fucking midnight! You do realize you could’ve gotten mugged right?” 

Atem sighed. “And you do realize that I’m in better shape than both you and Mana combined?”

“Yes, but-” 

“And if you mention anything about me being short,  _ trust _ me I have plenty of houses I haven’t seen yet. I could extend my nighttime walk for another few hours or so.”

An elongated sigh on the other line. Mana’s voice cutting in and out as she endlessly chattered. 

“Where are you?”

“Headed back towards the venue.” Atem kicked a stray beer can in front of his path. He didn’t mind taking a detour if the can rolled in any direction too far. “What  _ was  _ the shit you even brought me to, anyways?” 

“It’s… uh, EDM. Electronic music. The headliner is Mana’s favorite, so. I actually enjoy his music quite a bit, but I should’ve known better to drag you along.” Mahad laughed. “You have the music taste of a dying old man.” 

“Music is timeless,” the damn beer can got stuck under a bush, “but I think that the intricacy of music has only decayed over time until it reached the electronic vomit that you like. It takes absolutely no talent.” He knew he was being an ass but  _ fuck  _ he had a headache.  

“...Hmmm. Oh, I see you, hold on-” and the phone cut out. Mahad drove his dented purple car to where he was walking. 

Atem sat in the back seat without a word, pushing all of the empty coffee cups and energy drinks onto the floor like he always did. Mana went on about how great the festival was for what felt like a lifetime. He listened quietly with his elbow perched against the car door window.  Mahad sighed, remained relatively quiet until he had reached Atem’s studio downtown. 

After he stepped out of the car, Atem managed to smile the best he could at Mahad. He didn’t do  _ anything  _ physically taxing tonight but the mental exhaustion was enough to kill him.

“Thank you for tonight even though that kid was a fucking disaster.” 

“You’re  _ welcome _ ,” Mahad smiled back, “for driving you there and back. When are you going to get a car of your own?” 

Atem shuffled through his messenger bag, “I don’t need one. I can get everywhere I need to on my bike.” He looped his keychain through his finger and swung it up in the air. It fell on the cement.  _ Oops. _

“Pff,” Mahad let his foot of the break and the car started to move, “Until you need me to haul your old-fashioned ass somewhere you can’t reach.” 

“You’re my favorite, Mahad,” Atem called out behind him as he pushed open the front door. 

Mahad had yelled something about staying out of trouble as he drove away and Atem shut the door behind him. 

“Good  _ God _ ,” he sighed, placing his shoes neatly on the rack next to the door. He shuffled through the CDs next to his small stereo in the kitchen, settling on one of the various Sakamoto albums he owned. He let the sound of ( _ very quiet _ ) soft piano keys act as headache medicine. 

He thought back to the concert.

As stupid he would’ve felt admitting it, and as grotesquely  _ inorganic  _ the music sounded, seeing how happy the musician up there was… 

He thought it was kind of neat.  _ Kind of.  _ He knew what it felt like to have an absolutely  _ undeniable joy  _ for performing on stage and doing what you love.

Atem looked through his fridge for a snack as he cooked.

_ … What even was the artist’s name, anyway? _

He grabbed a carton of soymilk out of the fridge. 

“Hm.” 

! :^) !

“No, that stuff is fucking disgusting.” 

Jou sighed as he put the soymilk back in the cold shelf. Yugi had already began to ride off with the cart, one foot pushing it forward, the other on the bottom rung near the wheels. 

Jou muttered something as he grabbed a few items from the “healthy” section anyways. 

_ He won’t notice.  _

“Yugi it's not like I’m sabotaging your lifestyle, you just need to be a bit more conscious of what you eat. You literally eat nothing but frozen cheese sticks and drink nothing but beer.” 

Yugi shrugged, picked at his fingernails. “Hey, I eat lettuce sometimes.” 

“Yeah, if it’s on the shittiest, grimiest burger you can find at 4 in the morning.” 

Truthfully, as much as Jou loved Yugi he was just plain  _ tired  _ of having to constantly take care of him. But he never complained because Yugi had accommodated for his lifestyle and finances entirely. In return, making sure Yugi didn’t drop dead at 30 from some food or drug related health problem, a stupid dare, or an  _ incredibly  _ dangerous drunken idea was the least he could do. 

Jou spent the first three days after the festival running errands and making phone calls for him like an amateur receptionist because Yugi got  _ way  _ too drunk during the afterparty and attempted to set shit on fire only because Jou told him not to earlier. 

And  _ then,  _ Yugi got food poisoning the next night because someone doubted his ability to eat one of every menu item from a questionable fast food joint. To his defense, he got at least two-thirds through everything before throwing up. 

Despite how much of a pain and a worry Yugi was, Jou loved him more than anything. He was the closest thing to a brother that Jou ever had ( _ and he was a pseudo-wife according to Yugi _ ). Jou dropped out of highschool as a junior and he fought with his father more than he’d care to admit. Every argument started as something small until it finally ended up on the usual topic of his mother who had moved away with his sister years ago after the divorce.

Simply put, Jou had hated  _ everything  _ about his life, hated school, and  _ despised  _ every human he knew. 

Until he met Yugi.

! :^) !

_ It was raining, hard.  _

_ Jou hated that the path to his house always winded through the area of town where his old school was, but for some reason he never bothered to detour.  _

_ Maybe it was because he wanted to remind himself what he had missed out on; what sort of life he could have had if he had chosen to stay. But instead, he was doing odd jobs for his father, using fake IDs to purchase him liquor in order to be allowed into his own bedroom. _

_ But today, his father, all of it, it made him so angry. _

_ Livid.  _

_ And he saw the perfect opportunity to vent when he spotted a few upperclassmen holding a younger teenager by his collar to the brick wall of the music hall. And he felt lucky that the upperclassmen he saw were ones he used to rule the school grounds with, because they had no objection when Jou dropped the plastic bags in the grass and approached them- just like good old times. _

_ As he got closer he noticed that the kid against the wall wasn’t an underclassmen, but a senior named Yugi Muto, or more notoriously, the girly-looking nerdy runt of the school.  _

_ The interesting thing about this kid was that he  _ _ never _ _ broke. Even if he was crying in pain from a particularly hard punch, he never broke eye contact with whoever was messing with him. He always had the same angry, disappointed and defiant glare. And the other kids, they always hated it, so they threw him around until they were bored and his sheet music was torn to pieces. _

_ Yugi was lucky that the school provided keyboards because if his instrument of choice was any smaller or transportable, it probably would’ve been destroyed long ago. _

_ When Jou saw him this time, it was the same memory on a different day. Yugi was glaring and hurting like usual and the other kids were starting to get bored.  _

_ And the kids turned to Jou, asked about the plastic bag in the grass.  _

_ They laughed when Jou said it was booze for his father, shoved his shoulder and went around him, snatched the bag and ran. One of the kids, the one with the crooked tooth, smiled grotesquely. He said, “you’re not a friend, you’re a stupid dropout with daddy problems.”  _

_ They laughed as they ran away, made more jokes about how fucking stupid Katsuya Jonouchi was.  _

_ Jou turned to look at the only person next to him now. The crumpled and damaged Yugi Muto. He had messy brown hair that was short and fluffy in the back, longer in the front. A T-shirt with a graphic from some videogame. Plain blue eyes and dirt on his face. Jou felt guilty because as much as he wanted to beat the everloving shit out of the small teenager to make himself feel better, he felt fucking  _ _ terrible _ _. He walked towards him slowly. Yugi didn’t move. _

_ “Hurry up,” Yugi spoke through cracked lips, “I’ve got Calculus in 5 minutes. Just fucking hit me if it’ll make you feel good and make you go away faster.” _

_ Jou was breathing fast, fists raised, looking at the crumpled papers all around the older teen that was sunken in the grass beneath him.  _

_ And then, _

_ Yugi glared at him with his plain blue eyes.  _

_ The same look of anger and disappointment he had seen so many times from his father. But this time it fucking terrified him because he knew he was deserving of it.  _

_ Because he realized he had projected onto so many others and became the thing he always hated.  _

_ And so he turned and ran, back to the liquor store to purchase alcohol once more and go home to deal with the consequences of being late.  _

_ And he couldn’t get the runt of the school’s plain blue eyes out of his head. They glared at him for the rest of the week. _

_ About a month later, he saw the same scene but a different day. Yugi was getting kicked at behind the music hall, papers strewn about. And this time, Jou was angry, but for an entirely different reason and a renewed purpose.  _

_ The plastic bag was thrown in the grass, and Jou ran, no, he sprinted to the campus and threw his former friends as he called them away from Yugi. He normally would be intimidated by taking multiple people on, but passion drove through him like a stone from the sky. The bullies sensed his anger and feared it because they were driven by nothing more significant than dust. After the kids had cleared, Yugi started laughing.  _

_ “Are you fucking kidding me? What are you doing?” _

_ “I’m helping your scrawny ass,” Jou replied and held out his hand for support, “what does it look like?” _

_ Yugi couldn’t settle on looking angry or relieved so his facial expression came out as more or less confused, silly, and a little bewildered. He brushed the dirt off of his pants and looked at Jou wildly before muttering “I’ve got to go to class” and running back towards the school.  _

_ Jou smiled and walked away. _

_ Another few days had passed and Jou had started going out of his way to walk close to the school and make sure Yugi was okay. He was happy to see that the other kids, his old friends, had not bothered Yugi since that day. Rather, he saw Yugi leaning against the brick wall of the music hall, a new Game Boy in hand. Jou rubbed at his nose, continued to walk.  _

_ “I wish I had one of those,” Jou muttered.  _

_ “Hey,” he heard someone call out.  _

_ He looked over. It was Yugi and he had never seen him look so well. _

_ Brown hair didn’t have dirt and grass in it. Blue eyes that weren't complemented by puffy red eyelids. _

_ Jou stupidly pointed at himself and Yugi nodded his head in a manner that looked more like a tremble than an affirmation. _

_ Jou walked over and sat in the grass next to him.  _

_ Yugi kept his eyes glued downwards at the game system in his hands, squinting to try and see whatever the fuck was happening on the tiny grey screen with no backlight. “Thank you, you know. For the other day.”  _

_ Jou shrugged, watched Yugi’s fingers bounce between buttons.  _

_ “You’re gonna ruin your eyes lookin’ at that thing.”  _

_ Yugi laughed, tucked his hair behind his ears. “Nah, I’ll be fine. You should try playing in the dark, it’s fucking impossible. Takes a lot of talent to try and hold up a flashlight  _ _ and _ _ press buttons.” _

_ Jou scratched at his neck, watched an ant make its way up Yugi’s backpack.  _

_ “I, uh… I’m really sorry about.” Jou swallowed nothing. “Everything. I really wasn’t in a good place. Never really have been.” _

_ Yugi shrugged. “I know it sounds dumb, but I kinda just accepted it. I know people like you have reasons for picking on the weak. Because there’s someone else out there that’s making you feel smaller than I am.”  _

_ Jou laughed, thought of his father. “I understand, but that doesn’t make it okay, it just carries the problem like a virus that could’ve been cured with selflessness.”  _

_ Yugi crossed his legs, hunched his back as tiny noises came from the Game Boy. “Yeah, and if not, the world will end probably.”  _

_ Jou smiled. “Yeah, maybe.” _

 

Now, 8 years later, Yugi had  _ made _ it and brought Jou along with him because they had spent every moment together since that day playing games and laughing over stupid shit at 4AM. He was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard a slam next to him and nearly jumped out of the driver’s seat. Yugi was curled over in the passenger seat, blasting music obscenely loud and kicking the dash with his feet, hands extended towards the roof of the car. 

“ _ JESUS  _ Yugi, you scared the shit out of me!” 

Yugi responded by  _ screaming  _ the lyrics of whatever the fuck they were listening to at Jou’s face, nearly shaking the car with his spazztic movements.  

“And this is why  _ I _ drive, and you  _ don’t,”  _ Jou shouted over Yugi’s purposely  _ horrendous  _ singing. And all the way back to Yugi’s house Jou thought about how much he had changed over all of those years, and how he had stayed exactly the same. 

Even with the big shows, the parties, the money, 

the purple and blonde hair, the colored contacts,

the questionable alcohol and drug choices,

Yugi was still Yugi.


	2. TRACK 2. Let There Be Light

The sky was blue, pink, and filled with smoke. Atem turned down another street corner, narrowly avoiding the aroma of fresh cigarettes. He hated how much he still liked the smell. He quit smoking about a year ago to preserve his lungs and because his choreographer had yelled at him about it for years. If he ever stepped into the studio and smelled like anything but the breeze outside, _holy shit_ would Ishizu yell at him.

He had worked with Ishizu for a few years now after finally making it in the dancing industry. He had numerous awards and referrals that spoke on his behalf louder than his words did. That aside, he was without a doubt the best aerial silk dancer in the area, arguably one of the best in the country. And although Ishizu could create gorgeous choreography, nobody could transform the commands into moving human elegance that flowed as gracefully as the silk they draped themselves in like Atem could. Not even her.

She always poked fun at him, said he was a lucky fool for being so gifted. He had only recently started making a decent living off of his talents and spent most of last year traveling on a national tour for an entertainment group. Of course, Ishizu and a few of the best had gone with him and rehearsed every minute they could, but Atem somehow… shined. And because of that, he had started receiving offers to dance with other groups of many different kinds, for many different events.

Even a few well esteemed strip bars that only served the richest of the rich had asked him to work for them. He would certainly get… paid more, but he felt like keeping the pole dancing reserved to when he was bored at his home studio or the occasional times he hung out with Ishizu and she asked him to over drinks. He usually called it a day when she started laughing and throwing whatever money she had in her wallet at him, pennies and all.

Atem had texted Ishizu earlier to see if she wanted to go out drinking, but she was busy with a _gorgeous_ woman named Mai that she had been spending a lot of time with recently. A good ‘friend’ is what she told the rest of the dance group.

But Atem knew better. Half of the time when he and Ishizu talked alone it was about stupid gay shit. That was one good thing they had in common, swinging for opposite teams. It allowed Atem to not feel like he had to avoid being hit on when they were alone together, and same for her. It was a damn good friendship and one of the few he had besides Mahad and Mana, but they were both younger, too busy with college, and lived about an hour away. Atem would be damned if he wanted to take transit that far away so he usually bribed Mahad to drive over.

He sighed, stopped and admired the sign hanging above the old building for Golden Feather, a personal favorite bar of his. He usually only went out on the weekends, and as used to his weekly routine as he was, he just wanted… something _new_ to happen.

So he went inside. He rubbed at the side of his cheek, sat down where he usually sat, and did what any social introvert would do: he stared at the napkin crumpled next to him until the bartender’s voice would inevitably snap him out of his imageless daydream. Eventually, he did. It was the normal guy. The one with big yellow eyes, pretty hair, and a cat-like glare that could silence any drunk flirts in a heartbeat. Atem would know, he made the mistake of doing that once and didn’t come back for a few months.

“What can I get you?”

Atem shrugged. “Anything with gin. I don’t really care.”

The bartender shrugged. “Fine,” he muttered, “don’t get snotty if you hate it.”

“Of course,” Atem smiled as he rested his cheek in his palm, “I’ll just tip like shit from now on.”

The bartender rolled his eyes and started eyeing the variety of liquors.

After getting lost in pulling apart a napkin into tiny bits, the bartender set a drink down harshly in front of Atem, the cocktail sloshing onto the counter. And then, the bartender put on a sweet facade to serve the next customer. Atem stopped pulling the napkin apart and soaked the pieces in the tiny puddles next to the drink.

“That guy’s fucking hilarious, isn’t he?”  

Atem’s eyes darted to the voice next to him. A person just about his height with _purple_ eyes, _purple_ hair with blonde bangs, and a stylishly weathered and ripped white t-shirt. Oh, and a shit eating grin.

Atem glared at him in confusion and astonishment, surprised that _anyone_ would just scoot next to him and say something. He turned his head, passively began to drink whatever mixed drink the bartender had made. It wasn’t _terrible,_ he thought. Grapefruit and rosemary, something like that. He didn’t want to ask though, just in case the bartender decided to tell him he spat in it while he wasn’t looking as a thoughtful garnish.

“Can I help you?” Atem muttered into his glass.

“What?” the other man shouted a bit loudly in his ear. Atem forgot that loud music and chatter required him to speak up which in hindsight was probably why the bartender hated him so fucking much. That, and the whole issue of him stupidly flirting with him that one time.

Atem set his glass down and turned to look at him. “Do I know you?” And then his brow furrowed, head cocked back and to the side a little bit. _Why the fuck does his hair look like mine?_

The other man threw his head back and laughed, grabbing onto the counter spinning the barstool he was sitting on. “Come on.” He leaned a bit closer to Atem, and Atem leaned a bit further away. _What the fuck is this guy’s problem?_

“Come _ooon,_ ” the other man whined. “You know who I am, you _have_ to be a diehard fan if you dyed your hair to look like mine.”

Atem look at the man like he was fucking _insane_ and chuckled. “No, I did _not_ dye my hair to look like yours. I’ve had my hair colored like this for years.”

“How many years?” the other man flatted. He stopped spinning himself on the stupid chair. Probably a good idea too, he looked like he had already had a few too many, and Atem didn’t want to walk home smelling like someone else’s vomit.

Atem looked up in thought. “Probably eight years, now.”

The man pouted his lip, brows drawn into an angry little line. “Well, what the fuck.”

Atem sighed. “Now, I’ll ask you again, do I know you?”

And the shit eating grin came back. “Of course you do, probably haven’t seen me up close, but…” The man leaned to the side, with his elbows propped on the counter. “I’m Yugi Muto.” And his lips turned up in a stupid smile, like a pet that did a trick right for once and wanted a fucking party as a reward.

Atem raised his eyebrows, leaned forward, held his drink in his hand daintily. “.... _Aaand?_ ”

Yugi gasped slightly and Atem didn’t think he would look more offended if he told him his shirt was stupid, his fake purple contacts were distracting, and he that should fuck right off out of the bar. But he didn’t think _all_ of those things, at least not the “fucking off” part. He was honestly surprised any stranger would talk to him for this long. He usually scared everyone off by just being… an asshole.  

“You’ve gotta be _shitting_ me, Yugi laughed, “you live in my hometown and you don’t know who I am?”

Atem looked at him closer. At his hair. His eyes. Everything about him, his complexion. The ridiculous amount of beaded bracelets on his arm. “Wait…”

Atem squinted his eyes. “You’re that obnoxious DJ, aren’t you?”

And now Yugi looked _really_ cheesily offended, but he kept on laughing. “Well _you’re_ kind of a dick, aren’t you?”

Atem shrugged, sipped at his drink. “People tend to think so.”

Yugi had the audacity to scoot his barstool closer. “Eh, I’ve been slapped in the face a few times, I think we’re just two sides of the same coin.” He waved his hand obnoxiously at the bartender.

“Aigami! Hey, shots or something?”

And Atem couldn’t believe it, the bartender practically _skipped_ to him.

“Yugi! How’ve you been?” Aigami, _‘guess that was his name,_ leaned over the counter and wrapped his arms around Yugi’s back, patting it roughly. “I haven’t seen you in _weeks_!”

“Dude, are you blind?” Yugi put his hands on Aigami’s cheeks and Atem swore both of their obnoxiously bright pairs of eyes were sparkling. “I’ve been in the bar for like… fucking, a half an hour by now. Get your vision checked or something.”

“Nah,” Aigami said pulling back, turning to grab shot glasses. “I guess if you’re too far away I can’t hear you yelling shitty pickup lines at everyone.” He grabbed a bottle of tequila. “So, you’re buying drinks for Atem, huh?” And the cat-glare was on him again.

 _“What?”_ Atem rolled the word off his lips, eyes half lidded in annoyance. “And,” he was eyeing Yugi now, “who said you could buy me shots?”

Aigami sighed louder than anyone would ever do naturally and slid both shot glasses next to Yugi. He looked daggers into Atem. “ _This_ is why I don’t like you.” He smiled at Yugi, teeth shining in the dim lights before walking away.

Yugi leaned over the counter, arms folded. “You hit on him, didn’t you?”

Atem wanted to say no, but he knew his face looked way too insulted and _guilty_ to try lying.

The shit eating grin was there again and Yugi rested his cheek in his hand. “You _totally_ did. Big no-no. So,” Yugi slid one of the shot glasses to Atem, and Atem eyed his own drink. “Are you like, gay or bi or something?”

Atem glanced at him from the corner of his eye. “And why would you care?” He was pretty used to everyone around him being straight except for Ishizu at this point, and hadn’t had any luck with romance in the past. The only men that had interest in him were far below his standards, and the ones that met his always ended up being straight or taken. Being gay was stupid, and it was hard. So he resorted to being a dick to anyone that flirted with him to protect himself. But, that was having the _reverse fucking effect_ on the guy next to him.

Yugi picked up the shot glass and rotated his wrist in tiny circles, swished the tequila around. “I’m just asking,” he chuckled. “Don’t get _too_ angry that someone is trying to make conversation with you. You can tell me to fuck off if you _really_ want me to go, but if not...” He lifted the shot glass towards his lips, and raised his brows at Atem.

“ _Fine_ ,” Atem sighed, picking up the shot glass and gesturing towards Yugi’s, formalities and all that shit.

They both threw their heads back and Atem realized he had nearly forgotten what tequila tasted like. He wasn’t really known for stepping out of his personal preferences. He didn’t mind it terribly, but shots were _disgusting_ so he chased it down with a taste of his other drink. He frowned slightly. They didn’t mix well.

“You know,” Yugi started, “I’ve been here quite a few times and I’ve _never_ seen you sitting next to anyone.”

Atem shrugged his shoulders, but he knew it came down to his own stubbornness. He always thought about wanting something new, and here it was, the “new “ was sitting next to him and was babbling something about wanting to try his drink. He knew he constantly contradicted himself, that he wanted people around but he drove them away with his conceited nature.

So maybe this one time,

_Just this once,_

he would try and not be an asshole.

Atem slid his drink over. “If you have some sort of illness or something and get me sick I’ll make your life hell.”

“Pff,” Yugi sipped at the straw in his drink, picked off a piece of the rosemary and ate it. _That fucker._ “I wouldn’t do that if I were you. I’ve got a hefty amount of lawyers and the CEO of a really prestigious record label and a few other organizations to back me up. I could make _your_ life a living hell.” He smiled. “But I wouldn’t wanna do that, I’m not really a fight-y person.”

“Hah,” Atem replied. Whoa. _Holy shit._ “I’ll keep that in mind. Makes sense though, there was a lot of people at your show a few weeks ago.”

 _Shit eating grin number four._ “So you were there.” Yugi tried to flag down Aigami by flailing his hands towards his direction to no avail. “Did’ya like it?”

Atem frowned slightly, rotated his wrist and watched the shadows on his fingers shift in the bar lighting. “It wasn’t really my thing. My friends brought me and I ended up wandering off, honestly.” He shrugged. “It was just kind of… loud and it didn’t make sense to me.”

Yugi finally got Aigami’s attention, mouthed something at him that Atem couldn’t read and snapped his head back towards him. “Yeah, I can see how some people might think that. You’re kinda… old time-y aren’t you?”

“Well I wouldn’t say that-”

Yugi cut him off and leaned closer. “How do you feel about social media?”

“Well, I think it’s a waste of time and mindless-”

“How do you feel about deconstructivism?”

“Well, I think it’s _okay_ but I’m more of a person for impressionism-”

“How do you feel about radio music?”

“Most of it is tasteless music created by big labels-”

“What kind of phone do you have?”

“A phone that can call people, I don’t need it for any other reason. Why does that matter-”

“What kind of computer do you have?”

“I got it on sale at Walmart because my other one was getting viruses-”

“What kind of movies do you like?”

“I _love_ movies but plotless action thrillers are all the industry pumps out these days-”

“Do you torrent your programs?”

“What the hell do you mean by ‘torrent’? That word doesn't work in this context-”

“How does it feel being an eighty year old senile man living in the body of a young adult?”

“Well, I don’t feel terrible- wait,” Atem laughed, and Yugi thought it was the nicest sound he had heard in years. “You asshole.”

Yugi smiled sweetly, and Aigami set one of the most frilly looking daiquiris Atem had ever seen in front of him.

“What the fuck is _that_ ?” Atem asked, nearly finishing his own, which now looked very boring in comparison. _Great._

“Try it,” Yugi offered. Atem did, hesitantly, and holy _shit_ it was stronger than it looked and he recoiled just slightly. But Yugi saw it. “Good shit, huh? Aigami made it up for me. Sorry,” he said taking it back and taking a generous drink from the straw that had fucking _strawberries stabbed through it,_ “it has a shit ton of rum in it.”

Atem pursed his lips and looked at his hands. He was enjoying the unexpected company more than he had expected, but he felt kind of _terrible_ . Here was this man, a presumably world famous music artist that was probably the same age as he was, maybe a bit younger, that liked all of these fun and explosive things. And Yugi was bothering with _him,_ of all the fucking people in the bar. In the world _._ And now, for the first time, Atem felt so incredibly _uninteresting_. The arrogant front he always had was starting to dissolve into pitiful shyness. It was like everything Mahad had ever nagged him about suddenly made sense.

Atem swallowed nothing. “I, uh…” His heart was starting to pulse through his chest because he could feel bright purple eyes looking at him, waiting for him to speak.

“I dance.”

Atem exhaled loudly, cheeks puffed with air as he stared at the polished wooden counter. _Well, that sounded stupid._

“You _do?_ ” Yugi was grinning widely, teeth showing and all, absently chewing on the end of the straw in his stupid frilly drink that Atem wanted to ask for another sip of. “What kind of dancing?”

“Aerial silks. But I’ve done…” he wasn’t sure if he wanted to tell Yugi he’d done ballet since he was a child, he figured he would break out in laughter like most people did. “I’ve done other types of dancing as well. But silks are what I do for a career, I guess.”

“Me too.” Yugi was laughing without noise and his face was devious.

Atem stirred the ice cubes around in his empty drink and watched the rosemary spin. “I thought you were a musician.”

“Dude, my title is ‘Silk!!’ when I perform. You went to my show and you didn’t even know who was playing? Like, _anybody?_ ” Yugi eyes were _toying_ with him, they were gleaming with too many intentions for Atem to keep track of.

Atem rubbed at the back of his head and looked away from him. “Whatever.” He was _really_ fucking embarrassed, and he _really_ wanted another fucking drink.

“Oy, Yugi!”

Atem turned his head and saw a group of at least ten people that were all looking in their direction, waving and falling around in drunken sloppiness.

“Here, hold on,” Yugi said as he patted Atem’s shoulder and lept off the barstool and ran towards them. Atem stared at his shoes and _holy shit,_ the shoes Yugi was wearing were platform shoes that added at _least_ three inches to his height.Yugi had to have been about as tall as he was without those ridiculous things on.

Yugi was yelling something, laughing, and so was everyone else.

Atem thought their loudness, the unexplainable energy, it was all overwhelming and annoying. But he wanted it and he realized it as soon as Yugi left the chair and started talking in the same exuberant fashion with other people.

“Hey,” Atem flagged down Aigami who was plenty busy pretending he was washing a glass that was already clean. “Can I have…” Atem felt his cheeks get hot. “Can I get… one of the drinks that Yugi got? But, uh… make it a little different.” Atem shrugged. “Like, in color or something.”

Aigami nodded and started pulling down different liquors and eyeing the fresh fruit in the cold case. Didn’t say a word.

 

! :^) !

 

“Y’know, Yugi, I don’t know why you’re wasting your time with that guy. Why the sudden interest?” Jou was struggling to remain in the booth they were sitting in because the people next to him kept on shoving their shoulders to and fro.

“I dunno,” Yugi rested his elbow on Jou’s head. “I’ve seen him come in plenty of times now and he’s _always_ alone. Just kind of makes me sad.” Yugi picked at his nails and smirked. “He’s actually kinda alright, though. Kinda acts like an old fart, but like… a nice one. A nice, quiet fart.”  

Jou sighed and shrugged off Yugi’s perched elbow. “He’s not a stray cat Yugi, don’t feel obliged to talk to him. He might be alone for a reason, you know. The guy might be an asshole.”

Yugi shrugged and smiled something genuine _;_ a part of Yugi that only Jou understood. “Maybe so, maybe not. But, I know what it’s like to sit by yourself and to be alone. And sometimes that turns you into a fart, you know?”

Jou chuckled. He knew Yugi was right. As much as he would advise against it, Yugi would stop at nothing to make sure everyone around him was having a good time. “Yeah, uh-huh. Go hang out with the fart man.” Jou grabbed Yugi’s arm before he turned away. “Just remember that I’m driving you home, okay? Don’t go off to his house or anything.”

Yugi flung his hands into the air and spun on his platform shoes. “I make no promises, babe.”

Jou crumpled up a napkin and threw it at Yugi’s head. “Don’t call me babe.”

 

Atem was watching Yugi from the sides of his vision, how he got stopped by _every fucking person_ he walked by for one reason or another, a hug, a babbling fan that wanted something signed. One girl had the audacity to grab his ass and Yugi just laughed. _Laughed!_ Atem turned to slouch over the bar counter again. _Everyone made him laugh._

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Yugi put his hands on the counter practically leaped onto the barstool next to him. “You wanna take another shot- _ohh,_ Aigami made you a daiquiri, eh?”

Atem bit his lip and smiled. “Yeah.” He hoped Yugi wouldn't say anything about how it was a near mirror image of his own, the only exception was that Atem's was a darker shade of red.

Yugi stirred his own to try and revive the half melted drink. “Wanna finish these up and go for a tiny walk or something? I can't sit still for too long. I'll start screaming.”

 _“Jesus.”_ Atem was wanting to leave anyway, he could only handle the shouting drunken stupor of bars for so long. “Yeah. Yeah, that's fine.” He started to try and prove _something,_ whatever the fuck that _something_ was, and began downing his drink as quick as he could.

Yugi was absently trying to stab the alcohol soaked strawberries at the bottom of his glass, watching Atem try and finish his own _way_ too fucking fast.

Atem was _so_ close to finishing before he withdrew suddenly and his face contorted, a tiny noise of displeasure and hands holding his forehead.

“Didn't you ever learn from trying to chug slushies as a kid?” Yugi folded his arms on the counter and entertained himself by watching Atem struggle to keep himself composed.

 _“Ugh.”_ Atem pinched the bridge of his nose and clenched his eyes shut.

“Also, it might not be the best idea to chug _that_ , if it's anything like mine I don't want you to be falling on the ground as soon as we go outside.” Yugi snatched a blackberry off Atem’s straw. “Tell you what. Actually, nah I'll just do it- Aigami! We’re ready to leave, I'm covering both tabs, okay?”

Aigami walked over, presumably to say something smart, and then Yugi slammed a _fucking $100 dollar bill on the counter, blew him a kiss,_ and slid off the barstool.

Aigami grinned and started clearing the drinks. Looked at Atem, who was still staring wide eyed at the bill. “Learn to tip like _that,_ eh?”

Atem turned to leave looking confused as fuck. “Okay.”

Yugi was already at the doorway, zipping up a faux leather jacket. He cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted at the table he was talking at earlier. “Going out, babe!”

“Keep your phone on you,” Jou replied just as annoyingly loud. Atem met Yugi at the doorway, and Yugi had already started rambling on about a story.

 

! :^) !

 

They had been walking for awhile, long enough to find the pathway alongside the docks at the waterfront, the bridges were up and green lights illuminated the support beams underneath.

“So anyway, yeah. There's this kid that, ever since that concert a few weeks back, he _always_ manages to sneak into my house parties. I don't know how he does it, but I swear if anyone is gonna find a way to kill me it's going to be him. Also, he’s like 15 so I have to kick him out anyways. I think his name is… Jordan? Jaden? ...Judy- _I don’t fucking remember._ But he's a smart cookie.”

Atem was just watching him talk and staring at the piercing on the bridge of his nose. He also kept on wondering if by some miracle he and Yugi were the same height, but he couldn't tell. Not with those fucking _shoes._ God, those _shoes!_ They were kind of… similar in some respects,, but they couldn't be more drastically different in… almost _everything else._ But Yugi kept on surprising him because the more he said, the more Atem he enjoyed his company, even if he lost his footing every once and awhile and felt like a drunken idiot. Atem didn't really say much, he _knew_ his words would be slurred and his sentences would sound stupid. He wanted to kick himself for ordering the daiquiri but it was a bit late for that, he probably wouldn't feel it at this point.

“You feeling okay?” Yugi patted his arm and then left his hand there, his thumb moving in tiny supportive strokes.

Atem felt his nerves spike at the touch for _some_ stupid unexplained reason. But it wasn’t a bad thing, no. Fuck no.

“Yeah, I just,” Atem laughed quietly. “Just drank more than I planned to.”

Yugi linked his arm around his, offering himself as support. “I _told_ you those things have a lot of rum in them! I'm just glad that brain freeze stopped you from drinking more. You'd probably be throwing up over the ledge right now.”

“Yeah, probably.” Atem tried to stop walking suddenly, but stumbled a bit when Yugi didn't get the message and pulled him forward a few steps before turning to look at him.

Atem sighed, smiled. Kept looking forward. “I… uh, thank you. For talking to me today. I'm kind of... really terrible dealing with new people.”

“You're bad at dealing with new _anything,_ from what I've seen.”

“Yeah, I guess so.” He felt a twinge of jealously amidst all else, and dared himself to ask a question he’d probably regret. “So… that guy you shouted at before we left. Is he… are you guys in a relationship?”

“What? _Who the_ ,” Yugi suddenly threw his head back and laughed. “ _Oh!_ Me and Jou, oh no, _fuck_ no _,_ he's my best friend. I just call him babe to be a pest.” Yugi started walking again, and Atem started dragging his feet along with him.

“You never answered my question, you know,” Yugi said.

“What question?”

“Your orientation. I'm not trying to be a pest or anything I just _reaally_ don't want to give the wrong impression.”

Atem was quiet.

“Well,” Yugi sighed, “if it makes you feel any better I'm attracted to like… everybody. Not like, _everybody_ everybody, but fun and good looking people, you know? Just... people.”

“Ah.” Admittedly, Atem felt a little better. “I'm just kind of… gay.” He squeezed his eyes shut. _Way to go._

“Kind of gay? Just a little gay?” Yugi and that fucking _smirk_ of his was going to kill him. “Teensy bit gay?”

“No,” Atem huffed. They were passing through a bricked archway underneath a bridge and the green lights were everywhere now. “Just gay.”

Yugi stopped them this time, arm linked around Atem's winding itself around his back. “Well,” Yugi replied quietly, teeth shining softly in the dark, just like his ridiculous purple eyes. “Pardon my abrupt nature, but I think you're pretty damn attractive.”

Atem felt woozy, _flattered as fuck_ , and was genuinely surprised he didn't say another dumb thing and stumble away. He just didn't know how to comprehend it. _Yugi was hitting on him_. He just didn't understand why. He was also worried his stomach was going to explode with all the stupid metaphorical butterflies in it.

Yugi’s eyes were on his and Atem knew what was coming. Yugi was slow in his movements, intentionally leaving Atem enough time to decline, and he certainly did _not_. He just couldn't fucking believe it.

And it happened. Yugi’s body was pressed towards his, and Atem's was slowly backed against the brick wall behind him. Yugi kissed his lips softly, and Atem didn't think they would feel so smooth. The aroma of Yugi’s drink from earlier still lingered on his breath, it mixed with the smell of light cologne. He smelled like a really fucking expensive, aristocratic pine tree. But it was so faint and enticing, Atem liked it.

Yugi’s other hand found refuge on Atem's waist, another small peck before his lips peeled away slowly, soft breaths between them. “Holy shit,” Yugi muttered, his hand gripping Atem's side firmly. “Your sides are like bricks, since when were you so ripped?”

Atem smiled nervously, still trying to get over the ghosting feeling that Yugi’s lips left on his. “Aerial silks, remember? A lot of what I do requires some pretty intense physical training.”

Yugi’s fingers trailed up his arm, platform shoes scuffling against the cement. “Pff, sure. Swinging around in bed sheets requires a _lot_ I bet.”

Atem frowned. “Hey.”

“Just kidding,” Yugi smirked. “It's a nice thought, though. You being wrapped up in silk and all.” Yugi’s fingers were delicately brushing against his jaw.

Atem’s breath hitched. Oh. _Oh._

“Uh…” Atem turned his face away from Yugi’s hand and stared at the illuminated water under the bridge. “I uh, I don't really… do that. With strangers. I mean, the kiss was fine, but…”

Yugi shrugged his shoulders and the hand that was on Atem's jaw went to his shoulder, patting it. “That's A-okay with me.” He stepped back and offered his arm to Atem once more. “Maybe we should get to know each other more, then. Maybe. _Hah._ Kidding, but not about the friends thing, you seem nice.” And holy shit, how Yugi’s probably-fake eye color glinted in the dark.

Atem smiled, but he didn't let Yugi see. He turned to stare past the water. “Yeah, maybe. We’re pretty far, now. Almost to my studio, actually. Isn’t your friend worried by now?”

Yugi furrowed his brow. “Nah, he’ll live as long as I’m not dead. Oh, and you live around here? Well I was thinkin’ about offering you a ride to your home anyways. You've got quite the stumble to your walk, you know.”

They started walking again, Atem leading the way and tugging Yugi’s arm. “I'd be fine on my own. But thank you.”

Yugi leaned closer, touching shoulders. And Atem was still baffled that this person hadn't tired himself out by smiling too much.

“Maybe, I mean you seem pretty rough and tough. But if you can't walk a straight line I don't think you'd win in a fight.” He chucked, sighed before pulling a lighter and a box of cigarettes out of his pocket. “I'd know, I've gotten my ass kicked a few times.”

Atem eyed Yugi's arm, how the it looped around his own, and pulled him a bit closer as he reached to light the cigarette.

“Could you not smoke...please.”

Yugi looked down at him, frowning slightly as he replaced the cigarettes back in his jacket. “Why not? Too straight edge?”

“No, I just, I'm trying to quit. Makes it hard if someone else is around me. Also, my boss would kick my ass if she caught me smelling like smokes.”

“Ah,” Yugi grinned. “Well, good for you.”

They had talked their way down a few more blocks, eventually turning away from the waterfront. Atem looked back and part of him wanted to say “fuck it” and get lost with this stranger. But the other part of him screamed for ibuprofen and a blanket.

“That one,” Atem pointed at a large brick building, the red stones tinted and chipped with age. It was cramped next to a permanently closed movie theatre with only a few letters lingering on the showtime display. It had read “C  OS    D” for as long as Atem lived in the city. On the other side of the building was a small coffee shop, one of the underground ones that arguably had the best in town but closed too fucking early in the day.

“Jesus, you _live_ here?”

“Yeah,” Atem stepped onto the sidewalk and shuffled through his keyring, “it’s actually kind of nice inside. It was the only building in this area where I could have my own studio for practice.”

“Huh.” Yugi was tilting his body backwards as he looked all around, at every blocked off window in the rustic building. “You know, it’s not too expensive to just build your own.”

Atem shrugged. “I like it here.” And he realized then, that this is where they would say goodbye. And he wanted to smack himself for feeling somewhat _sad_ because of that. “My, uh… the door to my studio is inside the building, if you want to… part ways there.”

Yugi grinned. “Okay, as long as you don’t kill me or anything when we get inside. Jou would be pissed.”

Atem stuck the key in the door after a few clumsy drunk attempts and he shoved his shoulder into it a few times before the door finally gave and opened heavily. The floor was tiled black and white and it reminded Yugi of an ancient chess board. The hallway seemed to have came right from the past, completed with large arched ceilings and intricate wooden doors. To the right was a few mailbox slots and a blocked off staircase. Atem had lead Yugi to the left, to a beautifully crafted and worn door.

Atem sighed. “This is it.”

“Well, I’d say it has been a pretty good night, yeah?” Yugi looked a bit calmer now, and Atem wondered if he was always so hyperactive, or if maybe there were rare times where he would stop grinning and bouncing for at least fifteen minutes. The idea of Yugi settling to curl on a couch with him was oddly pleasing. But he was sure that Yugi was bored of him now, and that he had better and more giving people to mess with.

Atem smiled. “Yeah. Sorry if I’m not really… good at these sort of things. So… thank you, and um. Goodnight Yugi.” He was hoping Yugi would say something, _anything_ to try and change his stupid closure.

“Yeah, see you around.” Yugi turned to leave. “Drink lots of water and all that shit, buddy.”

Atem stared at Yugi’s stupid shoes.

No.

_Nononono._

It might’ve been the drinks thinking for him but against all of his stubborn intuition, he did _not_ want this to be the last time he saw Yugi. He was happy often, when he was tangled in silks and rhythm in the air, cooking food in his quiet house, early morning stretches in the studio,

_but nothing ever involved the presence of someone else like this._

In his home, in his world of dance and quiet, he was in control of himself and everything he touched. But Yugi, he was unpredictable. And something about _him_ , the way Yugi _moved_ him when he didn’t him to made him so terribly intrigued. And he could see his own smile on Yugi’s lips.

Or, maybe it was just because they kissed. Or maybe it was from trying to chug the stupid daiquiri. Atem didn’t have a fucking clue. But he wasn’t ready for this to be goodbye.

“Hey,” Atem’s voice echoed in the hallway, and Yugi turned on his heels and gazed back at him. He was untangling some expensive looking earbuds.

“I have a phone number.”

_Oh,_

_Oh my fucking God._

That sounded _so fucking dumb._ Atem widened his eyes and stared at Yugi’s shoes. Now he _really_ wished that he would’ve just shut up and left the hallway.

Yugi’s entire presence snapped back to how he was at the bar, that presumably signature smirk on his face. “ _Do_ you? Holy shit me too, that’s crazy.”

Atem drooped his shoulders and sighed in annoyance. “Do you want it or not?”

“Of course,” Yugi was cheerful in his mosey back to his doorway. “I didn’t wanna ask ‘cause I thought you were just politely telling me to piss off after trying to hit on you and stuff.”

Atem shook his head lightly. “No, no. You were fine, I promise. I just can only take so much new experiences and… you, in one night.”

They both stared at eachother for a moment.

“Do you have a piece of paper and a pen, or…” Atem trailed off.

“You’re adorable,” Yugi responded with blatant sarcasm. He pulled his phone from his pocket and handed it to Atem. “Just put it in my phone, yeah?”

“Oh.” Atem silently cursed the bright screen and the unfamiliar keyboard. And the drinks. After a few tries, he spelled out his name and number successfully and gave the phone back to Yugi. He started to leave once more. But Atem still felt dragged towards him in his soul, and he wanted to settle down selfishly, _just enough,_ to sleep without another thought of regret.

“Hey.”

 _“Yeees?”_ Yugi lolled his head to the side, trying to look back at Atem to the best of his abilities while turned away from him.

Atem walked towards him this time. He stopped inches away from Yugi’s face, and the other just… _knew._ Yugi had one of the most readable faces in the fucking world. But, Atem could tell. There was a whole other person underneath.

Yugi’s lips parted in a small smile, his front teeth barely visible. Then there were fingers wound in Atem’s hair just above his neck, and hands around mutual waists and backs.

Atem kissed him with more intent than before, and Yugi picked up the cues. He chuckled softly, mouth parting wider, inhaling as he slid his tongue past Atem’s lips. Atem would’ve been more self conscious about how much his mouth probably tasted like stale alcohol, but so did Yugi’s so he didn’t really care. The only thing he cared about was how self aware he was about being a shitty kisser.  

But Atem felt _so fucking alive,_ awake and dizzy either from the kiss and the hand that was drifting _way_ too close to his ass, or from the feeling of something metal sliding against his tongue. Yugi lessened his advances, kisses shortening until he pecked Atem’s lips one last time. Atem could see him so clearly now and _yes_ Yugi was definitely wearing colored contacts. But he thought they looked nice, actually. Maybe. And so did the rest of Yugi’s face and his potentially copycat hairstyle. Who fucking knew, maybe they both stole it from the same mid 2000’s alternative looking model that circulated through trends for a few years.

He wanted to choose his words carefully, his mind was so unbelievably heightened and he was buzzed from _way_ too many things.

So, Atem spoke.

“Do… did I feel...” He swallowed nothing. “...Is your tongue pierced?”

And Yugi cackled something fierce, enough to blow himself back a few steps before placing himself in front of Atem again. He stuck his tongue out at him, _sporting shit eating grin number five._

And there it was, a tiny metal ball perched on Yugi’s tongue, shining back at him.

“Why do you have that?”

Yugi pat his head, turned on his heels and started walking back down the hallway.

“Use your imagination, you’ll figure it out.”

Atem scoffed, but he was genuinely amused. “You’re gross.”

“Hey, don’t knock it ‘til you feel it.” Yugi yanked the old door open after a few pulls and stepped into the night. “See you soon, you adorable old fart, you!” And then the door shut.

Atem stood in the hallway for a few more minutes, staring at nothing. And he was _sure_ he had the stupidest smile on his face.

One that, if he was so bold to say so, could rival one of Yugi’s.

And it made him feel so happy to feel the allure of something new.


	3. D.A.N.C.E

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it has been so long since the last upload. I'll be better ;-)

“Dude, this guy was a _total_ nerd. Not like… in the _me_ way, not like the kid you beat up in highschool way- _it was just a joke Jou, kind of, geez,_ but like the kind of nerd that would bring wine and cheese to a park and recite Shakespeare plays to an audience of cats. Well, maybe not _that_ kind of nerd, he’s too quiet for that. You know, performing verses. But I mean, he _does_ perform because he’s a dancer and all. So maybe he’s just shy with talking, but not acting things out? Actions speak louder than words kind of guy? But it still counts because quiet nerds are a thing. I used to be kind of quiet too. But you see what I mean? He also wasn’t the _best_ kisser in the world, he seemed confused as fuck. But I guess you gotta start somewhere. Dude, what if he’s a virgin? Not that that’s a _bad_ thing, but like, damn that guy is attractive I’d just be surprised. But I guess looks aren’t everything. I mean, I think he scares off any chance of anyone talking to him that might want to bang. Oh, and he’s gay, did I tell you that? I tried to like... explain my sexuality to him but I think I just looked like a dick. I just told him I liked everyone, you know, but I think I just came across like a prick? But anyways, when I first talked to him he was _so mean,_ dude! Like, he basically told me to fuck off just by _looking_ at me. But then he softened up and he was just kinda fun, you know? And you thought he was _scary,_ you’re such a nerd, Jou. Okay, wait. I guess, if all of us are nerds by my standards, maybe he’s something else? What do you think? Am I being kinda harsh? I don’t mean to be. Maybe _I’m_ not a nerd, maybe _he’s_ a nerd disguised as a dick, whereas I’m a dick _and_ a nerd. So… I’m still a nerd then, I guess. But like, a different percentage. Or type. Isn’t it weird how we use the word ‘dick’ to describe a mean person? Who’s idea was _that_?”

 _“I don’t fucking know,_ how about you tell me _all_ about him when you get off the _fucking toilet,_ Yugi _?_ ” Jou’s muffled voice came through the bathroom door. “I can barely hear you.”

“Well anyway,” Yugi had nearly kicked the door down and took Jou as collateral, “he’s an alright guy. But I’ve been trying to text him for like _two days_ now, and he hasn't said anything. Maybe he gave me the wrong number? Like, not ‘cause he wanted to give me a fake one, but because he never uses phones, you know?”

“Whatever you say,” Jou yawned and picked silly string off the walls. “I just think it’s weird that you’re spending so much time worrying about if one person texts you back.”

Yugi frowned. “Yeah, that’s not a very ‘me’ thing to do, is it?”

“Nope, not at all.”

“Dude, like, we barely even kissed. I _don’t_ even think I touched his ass. It’s fucking… _weird._ ”

“Yeah? Yugi we need to clean up the house it’s still a mess-”

“Like I _want_ to. But. Like, usually I just end up… you know. Fucking, and stuff, but like…” Yugi scratched at something on his forehead, and stared at something past Jou’s shoulder. “I dunno, something about him. He’s _different_ , somehow.”

Jou started picking up an assortment of misplaced items and trash off the floor. Shirts, beer cans, a condom wrapper, a potato chip bag, and there were a _shit ton of paper clips,_ some cards, and a few things he _probably_ didn’t want to touch. “Maybe you like him.”

Yugi kicked some bedsheets around his ankles and shuffled his feet around the floor. “Of course I like him, I like a lot of people dude.”

“No Yugi, I meant…” Jou sighed, and he smiled to himself. “Nevermind.”

And they spent the rest of the morning cleaning house in silence, mostly. Until Yugi opened a door to a guest room and there was a sleeping trash-drunk couple under the sheets from the party the night before, and the only punishment Yugi enforced was screaming and rolling onto the bed to wake them up.

! :^) !

The sun was fully in the sky now, and this was the most gratifying part of Atem’s morning routine on the weekends. He had a bike path he always took before the sun rose, and as he went the sky would slowly start to reflect gold and red on the clouds. And at the end, at the peak of the trail, the sun would always be just shy of touching the city. He sat on the bench in the clearing, and stared at the streets down below, the small handful of people that had just started their day. He shrugged his backpack off and grabbed his phone.

It had been a week since he met Yugi, and _holy shit_ he didn’t actually expect Yugi to text him. He hadn’t replied to anything he had sent, he was _so intimidated_ and he had no idea why. Perhaps he just didn’t want to screw up and say something stupid. But ignoring him was also a stupid alternative. Every time he started to reply, he ended up staring at the blank text box until he flipped the phone shut. But he had read the messages every day, so many times.

Because they were _so fucking funny._

 

**1:12PM**

**Yoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoyooyo**

**It’s Yugi :^) :^) the DJ u dont**

**like from the bar**

 

**2:49 AM**

**heY BUDDY WHY DONT U**

**ANSWER MY TEXTS**

**Nah it k but you asked me**

**to text u and i aaaam but**

**u dont answer do u know**

**how to text**

 

**2:50 AM**

**I cop0ild teach u how to**

**text ;^)**

 

**2:51 AM**

**Shh sorry that wa s ud b**

 

**2:51 AM**

**Oops that messgage was bad**

**Threw a party and everyones a**

**little high and drun kand shit**

**YOU SHOUDL COME OVER**

**:^) :^) :)^: :^) :^) :^_)**

 

**3:08 AM**

**R u sleeping**

 

**3:09 AM**

**Everyone here loves you**

**they said so even my frined**

**right her says so**

**she says u sound hot**

**Told her u got steel abs???**

**that sounds su fuckin stuid**

**lmao so rry**

**social media doesn thave u**

**soi told her???? She said youre**

**hot isnt that great**

 

**12:53 PM**

**Hooooooly shit im so sorry dude**

**I was kind of shitfaced last night**

**Whoops**

**Ignoring all those messages might**

**be a solid plan hahah**

**Uhhhh so those aside I think that**

**we should still hang out or something**

**and hey you can text me now im sober**

**all day today probably :^)**

**I wont say anything too stupid**

He hovered his fingers over the keys on his phone and tried to think of something to say.

**_No problem, stupid things are_ **

He erased the message and clenched his eyes shut. Tried again.

**_Hey we can text I guess I’m not_ **

**_sleeping anymore haha._ **

Atem sighed, and erased the message. “How do I do this?”

He put the phone in his backpack and took one last look at the waking city before kicking the break on his bike with his foot and starting back down the trail. He rode straight to the studio, where Ishizu had already hammocked herself up in silks suspended from the ceiling. If not for her arched back, he would have assumed she was sleeping, not stretching.

“You’re late,” her voice spoke from the cocoon of fabric and limbs.

“I know, I got sidetracked.”

A leg stuck out from the folds of the fabric and Ishizu untangled herself and walked towards Atem. “I wanted to practice with just _you_ for a bit this morning, you need to get back into serious shape.”

Atem grabbed a towel and headed towards the small shower room. “I'm a bit insulted, but why?”

“Because I got you a show, and it’s a big one.”

He stopped. “Oh, what did we get?”

“No, not _we,_ just _you._ They only wanted one dancer and you’re the best one here. They specifically requested you.”

“What if I didn’t want it?”

“Then you’re fired, and you’re on your own for finding shows without having an online presence to help you whatsoever. I’ll give you the papers with more details, but be at KCRecords bright and early this Saturday. We’ll refresh one of your old routines for the audition. Maybe add a little more to make you more impressive.”

Atem immediately felt nervous. _KCRecords. Holy shit._

“Oh. Guess I have no say.”

“You’re a real doll, Atem. Don’t be _too_ humble that I set you up with a gig that’ll pay your bills into your grave.”

Atem laughed, and stepped into the other room. “Guess I’m dying soon.”


	4. Newjack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I felt a LOT of love on the last chapter, and I just wanted to say thank you. The support makes my world go 'round :^)

“You’ve got to be kidding me, Seto. I  _ just  _ got off tour. Also, what time is it? Like, fuckin’ 8 or something? You  _ know  _ my stupid ass sleeps in till like 2.”

Kaiba tapped his fingers on his desk, eyeing the small collection of dragon figures in the corner. “First thing, don’t call me Seto at work. Second thing, stop partying until noon and maybe you’ll wake up when everyone else in the city does. Third, yes, I know you just got off tour. But you’re at your peak right now and I’m not letting you die out. The show wouldn’t be for a few months, but it’ll be bigger than the last one. A set more expensive than your house. Fireworks. Tens of thousands of people. It’s nothing special just…” Kaiba shrugged, took his glasses off and wiped them on his sleeve. “A gig at the Luxor in Vegas for New Years.” 

Yugi raised his brow and finally took to sitting in a chair across from the desk. “Who did you fuck to land that?” 

Kaiba huffed and rolled his eyes. “Nobody.” He smirked. “I’m just good at getting what I want.” 

“Not laid-”

_ “Yugi.” _

“Sorry,” Yugi laughed, “I’ll stop being an asshole. So just mix up a fabulous New Years set and I’ll be good. I hope we have the best fucking lightshow in the world.” 

“That’s not it. There’s something else. I thought… we might need a way to make you stand out more, and get people to change the channel from the stupid New York cliché shit show over to our performance. And I think… we just needed something daring. So I’ve been looking at various types of talent that would compliment yours.” 

“Ah,” Yugi sniffled at nothing, and picked a dried piece food off his pants. “So I’m not good enough for you, I see.” 

“Shut up Yugi,” Kaiba scoffed, and picked up his ridiculously expensive phone with KCR initialled on the back of it. “So, one of the acts I ended up finding intrigued me. I think you’ll like him. I was talking to a few old acquaintances and the person I ended up finding looks so similar to you it’s actually kind of creepy. So, you know, since it’s Vegas and shit, it all works out.”

Yugi furrowed his brow.  _ There’s no fucking way. _ “Wait.”

“Anyway, I have a lot of planning to do, don’t worry about the twin guy yet. Who knows, he probably won’t make the cut anyway considering I have at least 50 acts to go through. I just think it would work out amusingly if he did. He’s auditioning today.” Kaiba leaned forward, tone changing to compliment the hushed gossip. “The kid doesn’t have an online profile or anything, not for professional or even social reasons. So we’re having to go off what he can show in person and a stupid amount of printed records, resumes, and references. Kind of an idiotic choice in the modern entertainment business to only go off of paper, but whatever. We’ll give him a shot. Took a shit ton of convincing from others on his behalf, but…  _ ugh. _ ” 

Yugi was certain now, because nobody in this fucking  _ universe  _ would fit the description more than “Atem from the bar” would. Similar hair, a dancer, finished off with complete internet incompetence.

Yugi hunched forward. “Well, I never. No fucking way.” 

“Hmmm?” 

“Don’t worry about it,” Yugi yawned, avoiding Kaiba’s onslaught of glares when he picked up an expensive looking dragon figure and pretended to make it walk across the desk.

“Well,” Kaiba took the figure from Yugi’s fingers and put it in its respective spot, “expect a call from me tomorrow about how the guy turned out. Otherwise, have a good night doing… whatever it is you do at home. Don’t die, don’t talk about the plans for the show with anyone, and I’m busy this week so don’t go to jail or anything. I don’t feel like bailing you out.”

“Sounds good, babe.” Yugi said and started for the door. Turned and smiled. “Nice hair, by the way. Girls’ll love it.”

“Whatever.” 

He’d always shrug off Yugi’s comments about his hair because he knew they were sarcastic, but Kaiba  _ always  _ ran a hand over the part right above his left ear whenever it was mentioned. And Yugi always noticed.

“You’d  _ actually  _ have your hairdo pay off if you just went to one of my parties these days. I’m sure girls would die to run their fingers through your mullet.” 

“Piss off, Yugi,” Kaiba waved his hand at him absently.

“Kay, love you Seto.” And Yugi left the room. 

Kaiba shook his head. As irritated as Yugi made him, he really did enjoy his presence. There had always been something captivating about the way Yugi performed, and the way he presented himself. Kaiba felt it the first time he saw him, a night years ago at a cheap bar show. Yugi was playing his set as if the cheap venue underneath his feet had crumbled away into the smooth gold of stardom. And that was the amazing thing about Yugi,  _ he had played as if he was already there, he’d already made it.  _ And he could feel the electric connection between his music and the crowd through his eyes.

Now, Yugi was the most successful musician he had ever signed. And despite the professionalism, Yugi managed to be the only one who treated him as a friend instead of a boss and he loved it as much as he hated it. Also, Yugi would probably be the only employee to ever step foot in Seto Kaiba’s house for leisure reasons, even if it was only every other month or so and they just played popular music from their youth, gossiped, and got really,  _ really _ high.

“Call me Kaiba,” he muttered to himself, turning to his computer. 

But he almost didn’t want him to.

 

! :^) !

 

Atem sat outside of the interview room and put his head in his hands. He expected an interview, but not one  _ nearly  _ as long as what he received. Just the sit-down portion had lasted nearly an hour, and he had gone into detail about every aspect of his training and his past performances. He was never more relieved to perform, because he knew he could prove himself through the way he moved, not the way he spoke. And he hoped they picked up on that as well. 

They seemed to have been impressed during the performance portion, though. Maybe. He’d polished one of his old routines that he knew would grab attention better than any other ones. He hoped he’d won at least a few people over during his favorite part where he let himself fall from the silks, grabbing back onto them just shy from the ground so smoothly, timed so perfectly to the music that accompanied him. There were other minor tricks he loved in the routine, and he hoped those shined as well. But the observers were so fucking  _ quiet  _ that he had no idea, not even when he had finished and exited stage nervously.   

The other issue was, they fucking  _ refused  _ to tell him who he was playing for, only that they were signed to KCRecords. He hesitantly asked the man why the secrecy, and he told him “the music choice shouldn’t effect your performance,” and that he’d find out after auditions if he did well enough. Which he understood. But it was  _ bullshit.  _

He was determined anyways though, because apparently the performance would be in Vegas which was  _ unreal _ . With that, came the information that it would have to be a  _ stunning  _ performance, with lots of dangerous tricks and heights.

He was _more than_ okay with this. Yes, it made him want this more than _anything_. Most of his past performances were mellow and tame, but nothing made his heart _alive_ like high risk performances. He would always push for bigger heights and falls, and _nobody_ wanted it, _nobody trusted him,_ or wanted to be liable for his potential injuries _._ He wanted to smile to himself when the audience gasped, when everyone assumed he would fall to his death only to see Atem catch himself on the way down. Everything else he did up to this point was so dull, but knowing he could hold onto his favorite silks at such fatal heights, it felt like _ecstasy._ He wanted to seep his adrenaline through every thread. 

And he wanted this. 

_ He wanted KCR to want this. _

He needed this show so so fucking bad. He needed to shine on New Years, brighter than the ball drop in New York. 

“Fuck,” he muttered, and picked himself up from the hallway and headed towards the stairs. He was tired, and he wanted a shower. He threw his duffle bag over his shoulder and a short yelp immediately followed. Atem immediately turned to apologize, hoping to  _ any fucking God  _ that he didn’t just nearly take out one of the interviewers or Seto Kaiba himself. 

“I’m so sorry, I…” and he trailed off.

Because unnaturally…  _ pink  _ eyes were looking at him? He had stared straight into them because the other person was the  _ same fucking height.  _ Oh.  _ Oh. _

And he wanted to shove the duffle bag in Yugi’s hands and stumble out of the building. But instead, he chose to stand there and stare at him.  _ His eyes were a different color. Why were they a different color? Why the fuck-  _

“Yo,” Yugi greeted him and Atem couldn’t  _ believe  _ that he was still smiling like an oblivious child even after he had ignored all his messages. 

“Long time no talk, eh? Did I scare you off?” 

Atem tried to swallow down the feeling that he was going to throw up his heart. “No… I just… I’m bad at texting.” 

“No shit,” Yugi laughed. “You didn’t text at all.”

Atem looked at his shoes. _No platforms._ Expensive looking black Chuck Taylors with golden accents. Probably extremely limited and custom made. “Yeah. Sorry.” Atem wanted to tell him he tried to text him back _so_ many times, but of _course,_ he didn’t. 

Yugi shrugged lightly. “No, I’m sorry I texted you when I was out of it. I do that, hah.” 

Atem felt  _ terrible  _ now, because his assumption that Yugi was nothing but an electric happy mess was wrong just for a  _ flicker  _ of a second. Because he could sense Yugi’s hesitance and he actually looked a little..  _ hurt.  _

Atem shook his head in small rapid movements. “No, no, no, no. I’m really sorry. I tried to text you, I just… I’m  _ really  _ bad at it. I wanted to talk I just never knew what to say. I’m not used to it, I guess. Only calls, and just... talking in person. And I didn’t want to come across as stupid.” 

Yugi sighed, smiling so genuinely that Atem swore his whole face changed. And he felt flattered that Yugi cared so much about him texting at all. 

“Don’t worry ‘bout it. I say the weirdest shit you’ll  _ ever  _ hear. You seem way too regal to say  _ anything  _ close to stupid. You headed downstairs?” 

“Yeah.” Atem smiled, lips tight, before beginning to speak again. “Want to walk down together?” 

“No,” Yugi scoffed incredulously, “ _ fuck _ that let’s take the elevator. I’m not walking 17 floors.” 

Atem shrugged and they headed out.

 

! :^) !

“So …  _ you’re  _ the one headlining then?” 

They both stepped out of the building, and into the sunlight.

“Yup, Seto described the dancer as a guy that looked like me and didn’t understand the internet and I  _ knew  _ it had to be you. He told me not to talk about the whole show thing and the auditions with people who aren’t already involved, but… ‘Guess you’re involved now, so.” 

“Oh.  _ Thanks.  _ Looks like I’ll have to put up with your music after all,” Atem tried to laugh it off like a joke, but he knew he was just being a dick and he wanted to kick himself. He shifted his feet. He knew this was the time to part ways, but… 

_ Last time was so much better.  _ Atem was certain he had ruined his chances. However, but it didn’t hurt to try. 

“I’m still sorry about the whole texting situation, I promise I wanted to-” 

“Hey, wanna go to KaibaLand some time this week? I’d say it’s my treat but honestly Seto just kind of makes an exception for me and I can bring another person at no charge. Like, no charge for fucking…  _ anything. _ ”

Atem blinked at him, mouth parted.  _ “Kaiba…Land?  _ Isn’t that place for children?” 

Yugi grinned. “Only if you perceive it that way and don’t want to have fun with your life and be boring. How old are you anyway?”

“25.”

Yugi rolled onto the soles his feet and patted Atem’s shoulder. “See? I’m 26 but I still know how to not be senile. Go with me, yeah?” 

Atem realized how silly he was being, that the  _ entire  _ reason he wanted Yugi around was for requests such as this one. Because Yugi was like  _ this _ , and it was so  _ unlike himself.  _ He also knew it would be in his best interest to not piss off the other half of the biggest performance he’d ever had at a chance at.

“Okay,” Atem replied, and holy  _ shit  _ Yugi’s bubbly aura was contagious because he hadn’t realize a tiny smile had been playing on his features ever since he had bumped into him inside the building.  “I, um. I can tomorrow? Maybe? I know that’s a bit short notice but I have work and training all week. Oh, and it’ll have to be a bit later because I have something in the morning-” 

“Right now.” 

Atem frowned. Not that he was unhappy. But because…

_ How… what the hell?  _

“Right... _ now? _ ” 

“Yeah.” Yugi’s shoulders tensed and his arms raised with the excitement of a hyperactive toddler. “Right fucking  _ now.”  _

“I, I mean, I have to change or shower or something first. I just had auditions, and-” 

“You’ll probably get smelly anyway ‘cause of the heat and the rides and shit but sure, yeah.” He started ruffling through his pockets. “I’ll take you to your place real fast, then?”

“But my bike-” 

“Throw it in the back, it’ll live.” 

Atem looked at Yugi vacantly. Abrupt plans weren’t his thing, but he figured he owed something for blowing Yugi off the past few days. It’s not like he had any plans. He rarely did, unless it was work related or a special airing of some show.“Yeah. I… Sure. Okay, sure.” 

 

! :^) !

 

Atem was surprised that the car ride was so pleasant. Yugi’s car was pristine and sleek. So fucking expensive that it shined, so elegant that it seemed to smooth itself down the roads. The only thing that threw him off was when he first got in; he recoiled harshly when the speakers immediately blasted something electronically fucking  _ foul  _ when Yugi turned the car on.

But Yugi simply shrugged, laughed, and changed the music. It was something much nicer, still with synthetic undertones, but there were voices and instruments. Atem didn't say anything, but he liked it. He was feeling good about everything, so much so that when Yugi rolled all the windows down Atem let his arm drift outside of the window, fingers rolling and threading through the wind. 

He was smiling.

And so was Yugi. When he wasn’t sitting at stoplights and nearly falling out of the fucking car as he leaned out the window and shouted at friends. 

But for some reason, Atem felt like they were his friends too. 

They eventually ended up at Atem’s door in the hallway and memories of when they last stood here flashed through Atem’s thoughts. Part of him wondered if they would end up doing something like that again. He didn’t say shit to Yugi about it of course, but he really hoped so. 

Atem put the key in the knob. Sighed. 

“Okay. Feel free to look at stuff and let me know if you need anything. Just… be, be  _ careful.” _

“Yeah, of course. I’m not gonna like, start kicking things.” Yugi’s eyes glinted. 

“Sure you wont.”

Atem opened the door, and Yugi walked right past and began to look around. 

“Your place came straight out of an Urban Outfitters magazine, didn’t it?” 

Yugi made himself at home, wandering from shelf to shelf, TV to couch, and Atem let him do as he pleased until he elbowed a porcelain cat off his desk. Then he made him sit still. 

“I’m going to shower, I’ll be back.”

Yugi smiled sweetly. “Can I come with you?” He laughed and said he was kidding when Atem glared at him, flustered and confused. 

“For the love of God, just don’t… break anything else.” 

The shower did nothing to calm Atem’s nerves. Honestly, he didn’t care that Yugi broke something or that he didn’t take off his shoes, it was that he was  _ there.   _

Yugi was  _ in his house.  _

He was happy but holy  _ shit  _ he was nervous.

He also never had guests, let alone people over when he showered. Also, he forgot to bring clean clothes with him into the bathroom and he had to walk past the livingroom, where Yugi was sitting  _ (hopefully) _ in order to get some. So Atem stared at the door, towel wrapped around his waist. 

Eventually, he closed his eyes and walked as fast as he could without stumbling over himself to his room and he pretended not to hear Yugi cheering at him over the quiet sounds of a handheld video game.

He stood in front of his closet, suddenly aware of how melancholy all the colors of his clothes were. He riffled through everything, settling on an off-color blue tank top and beige cut-off shorts. He never felt the need to impress anyone, not until now. And the last thing he wanted was for Yugi to think his outfit was  _ eh _ .

He made himself look as presentable as possible and walked back into the living room.

Yugi greeted him with  _ that  _ grin and shut the DS in his hands. “I like your outfit, it’s cute. We match.”

Atem smiled. Kind of. He spaced that Yugi was wearing a black tank top with a design for some band and teal cut-off jeans.  _ Shit.  _ “Yeah, that was an accident.”  _ He didn’t mind. _

“I liked the towel outfit better.” 

Atem laughed a little. He was starting to get used to the… abrupt and inappropriate sense of humor that he knew meant no harm. “I’m sure  _ nobody  _ at KaibaLand would have an issue with that.”

Yugi got up from the couch and bumped his hip against Atem’s before opening the door. 

“Let’s go, yeah?” 

Atem trailed after him and locked the door. “Yeah.” 


	5. Phantom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I am, so, so sorry that this took so long to upload.  
> But this was one of my favorite parts to write, so I hope you all enjoy it.  
> Warning about smooches and a dash of drama. :-)

KaibaLand was just as ridiculous as Atem imagined but he received it with wide excited eyes. He knew happiness, but this was something more thoughtlessly giddy than he had ever seen. There were children laughing and tripping over each other, the aroma of deep fried pastries, the rumbling of coasters on tracks. Towers that touched the sunny sky, and a  _ shit ton of cartoon dragons on everything.  _

It was the  _ same fucking dragon  _ everywhere he looked.

But something about being there was so extremely content, maybe it was the way he saw Yugi’s face light up in a different way.  He didn’t have the smile he teased with, it was a smile of pure self indulgence and anticipation for excitement. 

“Okay, okay,  _ okay, _ there is so much shit to do here. How about, uh, okay,” Yugi was turning on his heels in every which direction, mumbling ideas and plans to himself. “Okay. Atem. I know like, new things aren’t, you know, your  _ thing _ , but. This place has a fucking  _ crazy  _ arcade.” 

Atem shrugged complacently. “Sure. I like games, that sounds fine.” 

Yugi’s head abruptly tilted upwards in a nasally sounding laugh, and Atem had no idea if the laugh was a sarcastic joke, or if Yugi was just… a nerd. 

“ _ HAH.  _ You,  _ you  _ like games? You have  _ no  _ idea. I mean sure, I like, do music or whatever, but  _ games _ .  _ Nobody  _ fucks with the king of games.

_ “Wow,” _ Atem snorted. “That’s a conceited title… too bad I’m going to steal it.” 

Yugi grabbed his hand and  _ bolted  _ down a pathway, Atem stumbling and dragging behind. 

Atem was dumbfounded. He found it ridiculous that winding down tiled paths, winding through crowds of families adorned in cheesy dragon hats and giant water bottles with cheesy dragon heads on top and crumpled plastic straws, balloons fucking  _ everywhere,  _ it all made him so happy. And then there was the hand holding his, the one linked to the body that started this  _ entire mess,  _ and that was an entirely different story. 

And he thought about it every time he laughed and mumbled “excuse me” when he nearly stumbled into someone. 

The arcade was  _ huge,  _ and it had enough obnoxious lights to rival the festival Yugi headlined at. The games were  _ ridiculously  _ expensive and new looking, and the entire place looked like an interactive kiddie cove for a sci-fi movie. There were dancing pads, alien shooters, loud  _ pews  _ and  _ booms _ everywhere. At least  _ half  _ of the games had to do with that fucking  _ dragon  _ that he was seeing everywhere. 

He squeezed Yugi’s hand. “What’s with the dragon on everything?”

_ “What?”  _ Yugi yelled over an unpredicted explosion sound effect from a nearby VR setup. 

“The dragon,” Atem spoke closer to Yugi’s ear so he didn’t need to shout, but Yugi was so fucking  _ flabbergasted  _ that he stepped backwards and made an  _ extremely  _ dramatic gasping sound.

“You  _ cannot  _ fucking tell me you don’t know what the dragon is. Who  _ ARE  _ you?” 

Atem shrugged.

“Blue Eyes White Dragon? The  _ mascot  _ of KaibaLand? Arguably the most popular Duel Monster?  _ Not my favorite, but... _ ” 

Atem frowned and shrugged again. 

“Come the fuck  _ on,  _ don’t tell me you haven’t heard of Duel Monsters either.” Yugi snorted. “And you say you liked games.” 

Atem shrugged a third time, Yugi grinned at him and took his hand once more. “Well, we will have to play it some time. But you’d probably want to play it the normal dumb way. I mean, unless you  _ want  _ to play it my way.” 

“What does  _ that  _ mean?” Atem asked.

Yugi looked  _ devious.  _

“It’s the same as the normal card game,” Yugi led him over to a very flashy and space-age looking shooter, “but it involves a bit more alcohol and a bit more stripping.” He chuckled. “See, it’s fun because I always win. But I end up just getting shitfaced and naked anyway.” 

Atem raised his brow and stared at him.  _ “Yikes.”  _

Yugi pulled a plastic card out of his wallet and swiped it below the game’s control panel. 

“Is that… I can pay for myself you don’t have to… uh...” Atem trailed off, watching as the machine did a credit fanfare over and over and over again as Yugi swiped the card  _ over and over and over again _ .

“Nah you’re fine, it’s a card specifically for the games. You usually have to put money on it and stuff, but I don’t need to because Kaiba loves me. I have basically the ‘unlimited bullshit’ status at this park and I can do whatever I want.”

“You don’t need tokens?” 

Yugi smiled at him. “You mean like, coins? I  _ wish.  _ But nah, arcades dropped those a  _ long  _ time ago. Who knows though, maybe if we searched around town we could find one. But I doubt it.” He stood up and handed Atem one of the guns hooked to the booth. 

“Ready to fuckin’  _ die?” _

“I think the demo said this was a co-op game,” Atem flatted, reading the directions displayed on the dash. 

_ “Yeah, yeah,  _ but I’ll get more  _ points  _ than you, and, you,  _ ugh _ ,” Yugi chuckled and started the game. “Fine, let me rephrase that. Get ready to fuckin’  _ lose.” _ And he slammed his palm down on the START button. 

And that, he did.

Atem lost every game by defeat, less points, or otherwise. 

No matter what they played, Yugi  _ always  _ won whilst slightly biting his lip in concentration. Atem came  _ close  _ on a few that were more based on strategy, but  _ Yugi still won every time _ . It honestly impressed Atem; despite how obnoxious Yugi acted he could tell he was a quick thinker and  _ extremely  _ analytical. 

Yugi seemed to wear his entire  _ existence  _ on his sleeve. He talked more than anyone Atem knew and was comically expressive, yet he still feel like he knew nothing about him. 

Atem found himself wondering what Yugi was like when nobody else was around. If he snored, if he celebrated holidays. If he had a family, if he ever cried or got angry. If he’d ever play chess. 

He thought about more obscure things.

How he made his music, what he was inspired by. If he’d slept with anyone, if he’d dated anyone. What they were like.         

“The games aren't really fun if your opponent is spacing the fuck out.” 

Atem snapped out of his thoughts and looked at Yugi, who was looking right back at him. Plastic drumsticks in hand. 

“Oh.” Atem looked at the screen. Tiny music notes flew by, Yugi’s screen boasting an obviously higher difficulty. 

“Wanna sit this one out, maybe?” Yugi nodded his head towards a small child who was waiting patiently to play, toes curling with cheesy flip-flops, hand fiddling with the end of their T-shirt. “I think this kid wants to fight me.”

Atem glanced at the child before stepping back. “Sure.” 

The child smiled and stepped next to Yugi.

“Alright, kid.” Yugi smiled at them, “you ready to take on the King?” 

“ _ Nooo, _ ” the child responded playfully, grabbing the drumsticks. 

“Hah! ‘Kay, here we go.”

Atem watched quietly, surprised at how  _ wonderful  _ Yugi was with kids. It was obvious the child had played this game before, but only on the lowest difficulty. The same one Atem spaced out on. But the child was having so much  _ fun,  _ jumping and squeaking. Yugi was shouting and screaming with them, flailing about if he missed a note. Yugi was playing on the same difficulty as before, but  _ damn  _ Yugi was a good actor because he did  _ significantly _ worse and lost, hands dramatically covering his face. 

_ “Gaaah!  _ I’ve never lost before,” he knelt down to the child’s eye level, hands perched on his knees. “How did you  _ do  _ it?” 

The child swayed their shoulders bashfully. “Iunno. I just did what the screen does, you gotta, look at the notes.” 

Yugi snapped his fingers, swinging his hand.  _ “Darn,  _ you’re right. Those tricky notes. Well…” He sighed. “It looks like  _ you’re  _ the King of Games now, aren’t you?”

The child grinned wildly. “Maybe.” 

“Well, tell you what. I gotta go play games with my buddy now, but you have fun, okay? I’ll win next time! Hah!” 

He held out his hand flatly, beaded bracelets swinging around noisily. 

“Okay Yugi,” the child high fived him and started to run towards their friends. “Bye!”

Atem was still watching in awe when Yugi approached him and shrugged his shoulders. 

“Kid’s really good, you know,” Yugi chuckled, and linked his arm into Atem’s. 

They headed towards the exit of the arcade but Atem kept on looking back. The kid was still smiling and talking endlessly to the other children. 

He never would’ve guessed that Yugi was so damn good at entertaining, music, games, with kids... he seemed to be good with a lot of things. 

And it kind of made Atem jealous.

“Hey,” Atem felt an elbow nudge his side, “Are you okay? You’ve been kinda quiet. You’re not like, upset about the whole losing thing right? I mean I’ve played those games a  _ stupid  _ amount of times. When Kaiba  _ first  _ gave me that card holy shit I got no work done, it was fucking-” 

“No,” Atem cut him off. And he told himself not to worry and looked at all of the balloons in the sky. “You’re just a really interesting person.” 

“Hah.” Yugi grinned. “I’ve been called  _ way  _ worse.” 

They trailed off and got lost in the colors, every little thing offering as a distraction. Yugi seemed to know _every_ employee at the park. They would barely get anywhere before Yugi’s hands were suddenly thrown up and viciously embraced around someone else in a fit of shouts and excited questions. He even introduced Atem every time, and scored them a few drinks that the employees just seemed to… _know_ Yugi would ask for. 

Fresh juice and rum in hand, stupid frilly umbrellas, blue and pink colors everywhere. The sky was ridiculously pretty and the two of them ran from stand to stand, Atem sparking up conversations of his own. They kept on walking, talking about little things that didn’t matter. But mostly, they were just observing each other in admiration every time one of them spoke. 

They eventually ended up at the carnival games, all gleaming with prizes and enthusiastically shouting employees. Atem smirked and squeezed Yugi’s hand. “I’m good at these.”

“Pff,” Yugi set his drink down at one of the booth counters, “Whatever. You are probably as good at these as the arcade ones.”

But that wasn’t true, Atem was better at these.

_ Way  _ better.

By the time they left the area, Atem had won nearly  _ every _ fucking game they played, while Yugi whined about how rigged and outright  _ impossible  _ they were. But Atem was nice, and after winning a  _ ridiculously  _ huge Kuriboh plush, he let Yugi hold onto it. Keeping it was still up for consideration. Atem had already won him a stupid marshmallow monster pillow after the first few rounds. After the arcade and the other carnival games, they decided on a tie between the two of them and left the title of King of Games to the child from earlier. 

Atem had his undivided attention on Yugi they walked, surprised he was able to hold onto so much  _ shit  _ and manage to balance a drink in his hand while not spilling toxic fruit punch on everything. The sun was starting to set and all the colored lights on the rides and buildings turned on. They hadn’t gotten to  _ any  _ other attractions yet, they were too busy throwing darts, playing rigged hoop shooters, and making stupid bets over cheap fruity mixed drinks.

Yugi watched the roller coasters fly by, loud tracks and screams following. 

“You think if we got on a rollercoaster we’d throw up everywhere?” 

Atem frowned. “I’m not really a fan of… things like that.” 

Yugi glanced at him. “If you’re telling me you do aerial silks and you’re afraid of heights I’m  _ going  _ to laugh at you.”

Atem shook his head lightly. “No, I just don’t like roller coasters or amusement park rides or anything. I don’t like ...feeling like I’m not in control, I guess.” He chuckled. “At least if I fall dancing, it’s my own fault, you know? It’s just, I trust myself. But I  _ don’t _ trust those dumb carts.” 

Yugi laughed and pulled him along. “Whatever you say. I’ve been on all of these a million times and  _ none  _ of them are scary, unless you’re five or something. No, scratch that. I’ve seen some fucking brave kids here.” 

Atem shrugged. “I can do ferris wheels though.” 

Yugi stopped.

“Are you fucking kidding me? You won’t do coasters but you’ll sit on a wheel that lets you lean over the side and fucking  _ see  _ how high up you are?” Yugi smiled with teeth showing, but it was something genuine. Atem could see it, how Yugi’s exuberant personality had calmed down. It was like Yugi almost forgot about his status in the world, like he was a friend Atem had made long ago. 

And Atem liked him a lot. “Yeah, I suppose so. I need to sober a little if I want to do anything else, though. I  _ might  _ throw up on you.”

They walked towards the most beautifully designed ferris wheel in the world, and the park was starting to die down. 

“‘Kay. Let’s go on the dumb ferris wheel,” Yugi muttered, shifting the obnoxious stuffed prizes in his arms to grip Atem’s hand. And they ran towards it like children. 

The ferris wheel was more gorgeous the closer they got, tiny intricate swirls of blue and white on every beam, the soft glow of light bulbs pulsating and changing. 

A grand light show of colors as the gondolas moved slowly. 

The carts were open on top, elegant parasols above every one. The seats were covered with navy blue pleather and everything about it seemed to have rolled out of Atem’s favorite movies and his dreams. And he was going to experience it with  _ Silk!! _ , Yugi Muto, world famous DJ that he had snobbed up at the bar and had ditched his concert.

What’re the chances, Atem thought.

Life was moving, he guessed, and for the first time in years he liked everything about it. The sun was nearly down now, only a hint of stars in the sky. 

And Yugi was in front of him, holding the door of the gondola open like an over exaggerated gentleman. 

“Y’know, I’m not too big of a ferris wheel fan and if you don’t get in I’m gonna be pissed and throw eggs or something at you when I get off the ride.”

Atem stepped in and held back his snobbish remarks. The operator shut the door, and it started to move.

Ever since he was a child, Atem loved ferris wheels because he loved to watch the world move down below, everyone carrying on with no care that he was watching. He watched the birds, the trees, the cars on the highway. People walking down below. He tried to think of all the individual lives each person held, how every person in his range of sight as a collective had more stories than he could recite in his all of his years. 

Yugi disliked ferris wheels. A lot. A  _ ton. _ He shifted, crossed his legs and uncrossed them. Looked at Atem who was looking elsewhere, pulled out his phone. Checked social media, texted a few people. Put his phone away. Fluffed up the kuriboh plush. Looked at Atem. 

He sighed  _ loudly,  _ arms sprawled out across the seat, legs stretched out so far his ankles bumped into Atem’s from across the gondola. 

Atem glanced over at him, returning his gaze back to the overview momentarily. “Doing okay?”

Yugi’s shoulders sunk lower until his entire body was nearly off the seat. “I’m  _ booooored. _ Like,  _ so  _ fuckin’ bored. I wanna go run. I’ll fucking run out of this thing, I swear. You’ve got Seto’s boring taste in rides.  _ Ugh. _ ” 

Atem smiled, just barely so, enough for a small dimple to appear. “How about you sit next to me if you’re bored, then?” 

Yugi stopped fidgeting. He slid to the other seat, leaving the stuffed animals alone on the other. They were nearly halfway up now, and all of the lights shining in the park. Distant laughter and screams, rollercoasters and machinery. Live music echoing from somewhere.

There was little space between them, Yugi had no hesitation in scooting right next to the other. 

“I’m gonna fall asleep or jump off of this by the time this thing cycles once, I swear.” 

Atem blinked, watched children run in groups, balloons trailing behind. “Why don’t you try just looking instead of  _ doing  _ for now?”

Yugi shrugged. “Sounds-” But he cut himself off. He saw the fascination in Atem’s eyes as they looked from scene to scene, complacency on his face. The lights around them shone on his arms, left streaks of light in his hair. And Yugi didn’t notice how  _ naturally  _ red Atem’s irises were. He sighed and leaned over Atem slightly as he looked over the ledge. 

He saw what Atem saw, and he stopped smiling. But it wasn’t a bad thing because he was still happy, just in a different way.

He just lost his train of ever-running thoughts when all the commotion below thought for him. And for a moment, he only thought of Atem.

He was always so incredibly  _ calm _ and he didn’t ask for any favors. He made Yugi sleepy, almost. But in a good way. Yugi knew, somewhere in the back of his head, that there was an entirely unpredictable and unusual balance between the two of them. 

And it was fucking  _ strange  _ how it made his stomach churn with nervousness, and how he thought about him  _ way  _ too much. It reminded him of times years ago, but he forgot what that felt like. It had been so long, since…  _ this _ , this feeling, but he loved it as much as it annoyed him because it  _ never  _ fucking went away when Atem was around. 

“Yugi?” 

He shook his head a little and stopped spacing out at the peach-y blue clouds. “Yeah, sorry. Just thinking. ‘Bout things.” He furrowed his brow. “You know, you’re really annoying.”

Atem retracted his head a little, looking offended. “Excuse me?” 

Yugi was still looking beyond the gondola. “No, no. Not like,  _ you  _ you _.  _ I mean, the  _ you  _ in my head. Okay, so. Let’s pretend there’s another tiny Atem in my head, right? And there are tiny versions of everyone else I know. The other people flutter around a little, come in and out, you know. But you’re  _ always  _ there. And you make me nervous, and you never leave my head. And sometimes I think I could  _ choke  _ on the feeling you give me. It’s kind of cool, but dumb, just because it’s distracting and I have  _ no  _ idea what to do with you. Or tiny you.” Yugi shrugged away from Atem slightly, groaning. “See? Now it’s even  _ worse  _ ‘cause I’m telling you, and my face is getting all stupid and warm and what the  _ fuck  _ did  _ I _ do? I don’t get it. You’re just…” Yugi pursed his lips. “I was gonna say you’re just a guy, but I guess you’re not. In fact, I think I act better around you than anyone else I know.” He laughed a little. “You make me do weird shit. And by weird shit, I mean I  _ don’t  _ do as much weird shit around you. Which is…. Weird.” Yugi looked at Atem, who was already staring holes into him, mouth parted in surprise. “.... _ Riiight?  _ That’s like, a dumb thing right?”

Atem mouthed the word “no,” but it didn’t come out the first time. So he tried again and kept on looking. They were nearly at the top of the ferris wheel now, the sky was dim. Like in the cheesy movies Atem loved so much.

“...It’s not weird at all, Yugi. I think. Maybe…” His voice was soft. “This might be a bit ambitious and conceited to assume, but maybe you have feelings for me. Which would…” Atem smiled. “That would be fine with me. I feel the same way. Sometimes. Even if you put it in a bit more… abstract terms.” Atem sat closer, put his hand on Yugi’s knee, just barely. “I think there’s a lot more to you than you show…” He chuckled quietly. “And you show  _ a lot  _ of yourself from what I’ve seen through your words and actions. You intrigue me, there’s just so much… of you. I don’t know how to put it.” 

Yugi shook his head, but he was laughing, eyes closed for a moment. “ _ Wow _ . It’s been a long time since anyone has used such nice fancy words to describe me that wasn’t a journalist looking for a paycheck. Actually… I don’t know if anyone has  _ ever _ said something that nice about me and actually meant it.” 

He looked at Atem again, and they were on top of the world. 

Yugi spoke in a way that Atem had never heard him speak, but it was so  _ natural  _ sounding. It rang from the core of his soul, and Atem could feel it in his thoughts when the noise played back in his ears. 

“Thank you, Atem.” 

They were so close now, they acted on their thoughts.

And, they both supposed there was no better idea than leaning closer to each other and feeling the breath between them play off of each other's lips. 

They kissed, there, on top of the world. 

Yugi wound a hand up to Atem’s cheek and his fingers pressed there, firmly. Shoulder against shoulder, teeth scraping just barely. They were both aware that fellow gondolas could probably see them in their progressively shameful sloppiness, but they didn’t care. They were drunk in needy affection. Yugi brushed Atem’s bangs back just slightly and pulled his tanktop strap aside, pressing his lips against the crevice between his shoulder and his neck. Atem leaned his head back, eyes closed. “Yugi,” he sighed, “I…” The tanktop strap fell lazily onto his arm and neither of them bothered with it.

Yugi’s hand cupped his jawline, exhaling as he bit his skin lightly. His other hand snaked arond Atem’s back, fingers reaching inside of his shirt, nails scratching lightly down his spine. 

Having no fucking clue what to do with his mouth, his hands,  _ anything,  _ Atem brushed his fingers against what he could, Yugi’s shoulder, his arms, his thigh, before tangling them in Yugi’s hair. 

Atem lost his composure and let a moan slip out when Yugi sucked on his skin harder, hands reaching more desperately, and he felt one of Yugi’s hands grip onto his thigh lightly. 

His upper thigh.  _ Very fucking  _ suggestively high on his thigh. 

“Holy  _ shit _ ,” Atem breathed, and he opened his eyes. They were close to the ground now, and both of them had almost  _ entirely  _ unraveled their decency. “Yugi, we,” he felt the ball of Yugi’s piercing slide against his neck, and his words flew from his mouth. 

So he settled on slapping him on the back. 

_ “Shit!”  _ Yugi retracted his mouth. “If you wanna like slap me or somethin, I mean I’m not really  _ for  _ that, I mean, scratch that I guess sometimes if I’m in the mood,  _ I mean  _ no. Scratch that  _ too _ , let me start over. I’m usually the ass slapper but like my  _ back?  _ Why’d you-”

And then he looked where Atem was looking. 

The ride operator was glaring at them both as he reached to open the door to the gondola.

The man huffed. “Yugi, Mr. Kaiba has  _ very  _ few restrictions when it comes to you, but we ask politely if you’d keep the PDA to a minimum.”

“Pff,” Yugi stood and grabbed the stuffed duel monsters. “Tell ‘ _ Mr. Kaiba’… _ ” Yugi laughed. “Yeah, shit, you’re right. I’m gross, I’m sorry.” 

Yugi leaned back and looked at Atem who was dazed out and staring at the floor. 

“Yo,” Yugi grabbed Atem’s hand and pulled him up, “gotta go, buddy.” 

Atem stumbled out of the gondola, pulling his tank top strap back to its proper place. “Ah.”

Yugi smiled sheepishly at the ride operator one last time before they headed back towards the rest of the park. 

“So…” Atem watched the tiles as they walked. “That was a… thing.” 

Yugi glanced at him. “Did you not like it?” He shrugged. “I mean, like, my bad if you don’t like hickies and stuff I just kinda got carried away, you know-”

Atem shook his head. “No I just… I don’t really… I haven’t done many intimate things, I guess.”

Yugi raised his brow, stared at the path in front of them.  _ “Intimate,  _ you say. Holy shit. Are you a-” Yugi pursed his lips. “Don’t worry ‘bout it.” 

“Huh?”

“Nothing,” Yugi replied. “Just, if I like, do anything that makes you uncomfortable, just like, kick me or somethin’? Or slap my back, you seem to like doing that one.”

“No,” Atem replied. “It’s fine, I just... It makes me nervous. But, I don’t want to, like. Do… You know.”

Yugi frowned.  _ Jesus. _ “Do… ‘ _ you know?’”  _

Atem rolled his eyes. “You know what I mean. I just… I still don’t know you… well enough for that. Sex, or whatever. I don’t just  _ throw  _ myself at everyone I meet.”

Yugi smiled a bit incredulously. “Um, okay. I mean, people fuck all the time. It doesn’t make you a shitty person. I mean, if you don’t wanna that’s fine, but. Some people just like to. I don’t really think that’s bad.” 

Atem frowned. “I guess. But I like to try and be…” He stopped talking. Yugi was looking at him expectantly and a little angry. Also a little offended. 

“Try and be  _ what?” _

“Sorry. Nevermind. You’re right.”

The park was nearly closed now, the only ones left were older couples stumbling from cabanas with drinks in hand and kids crying that they didn’t want to leave. People sweeping the floor, the last call for rides. 

Yugi let go of his hand. “Y’know, I wanted to see if a friend of mine would keep stuff open a bit longer for us, but if you want to go home instead I can drop you off. It’s up to you.”

And Atem felt  _ terrible _ . He thought back to that morning, when Yugi had shrugged off being hurt with laughs. But now, Yugi was so comfortable around him that he didn’t bother. 

Atem was worried. 

Yugi  _ liked  _ him so much, _ that he didn’t even bother. _

Atem stopped walking. Yugi trailed a bit ahead before noticing, turning to face him.

They both faced each other, Atem’s hands loose at his sides.

Yugi’s in his front pockets. 

The lights flashed around them, bursts of blue and white, fountains on either side of the pathway. 

Atem spoke first.

“You haven’t always acted this way, this happy, have you?”

Yugi was expressionless. “You know, Atem, how you were saying you don’t throw yourself at everyone you meet?” He scratched at the back of his neck and sighed. “If I were you, I’d think more about what you said. It doesn’t just apply to sex, you know.”

Atem didn’t answer. He listened to the fountain and hoped it would say something for him. Preferably he hoped the fountain would say “I’m sorry.” 

But it didn’t, and Yugi was starting to bounce on his heels lightly. He looked agitated and fidgety. “Well, the park is closing soon, so we should-”

“I’ve never dated anyone,” Atem blurted. 

Yugi cocked his head back slightly.  _ “Okaaay…”  _

“I’ve only kissed maybe two or three people. I cry when I watch my favorite movies. Honestly in my free time, I do  _ nothing  _ except watch movies. Or mountain bike. Or do pole dancing as an exercise or something. I have tons of boardgames and I love to play cards but I don’t know anyone that shares the same interests. Sometimes I play against myself so I don’t forget the rules. I’ve always wanted a cat but I’m allergic. I only ever hang out with my two childhood best friends once every month or two, and sometimes get drinks with my… boss, I guess. My social skills are shit and I’m mean to everyone I meet because I’m scared of trying to be nice and looking stupid. Or alternatively, making a friend that will realize how boring I am and I’ll be sad when they find other people.”  

Atem stopped talking, and the fountain spoke for them once again. Yugi was quiet, eyes widened. 

_ “Hah…” _

Atem furrowed his brow.  _ Did Yugi just… _

_ “Hahah…”  _ Yugi’s lips were upturned in shit eating grin number  _ something.  _ “Hahahaha!”

Yugi walked towards him, still trying to recover from fits of giggles. “You know, we have almost  _ nothing  _ in common. But something about that is really nice, you know? I’ve been stuck in a chaotic cycle of life for a while now, so… I suppose we have  _ that  _ in common, huh? Even if it’s a little different. Maybe  _ that’s _ the one thing.” 

“Nah,” Atem replied sweetly. “I don’t think so. You like games, so you play cards don’t you?”

Yugi chuckled, stepped in front of him. “Yeah, I guess. I mean I know like,  _ trading  _ card games, but I’m not very good at poker or anything-”

“And you like music. You play keyboard, so I assume you know a few classical piano pieces?”

“I mean, I know a few pieces from high school and sometimes I-”

“You got the idea for your hair from a popular alternative magazine like ten years ago, didn’t you?”

“How the  _ fuck  _ did you, oh yeah your hair-”

“Without those insane shoes you wore at the bar, we’re the same height, aren’t we?”

“Yeah,  _ fuck, _ but I mean I’d rather be taller-”

“How does it feel to be so similar to the senile asshole you met at the bar?”

“Eh, I mean-”

“And we’re going to both be playing the biggest show of our lives on New Years.” 

“Hah. Yeah. If you get the part.” 

“We  _ are _ playing it together, because we both pursue our goals and don’t let anything stop us until we get there. We have that in common.” 

“Okay _ okay,”  _ Yugi leaned his head back and shouted to the sky, “I get it, we have like, one or two things. Maybe four. Six. However many fuckin’ things you said.” 

“And…”

Yugi jerked his head back into place. “I know, I get it, things in common, yeah-”

“I do want to stay at the park longer, if you can still… work your weird connection with...Kaiba...Land. Corp. Records. Whatever.” 

Atem pursed his lips, rolled on his heels. “And… I’m sorry for what I said. You were right.”

He shifted his gaze to Yugi’s eyes, and he was  _ never  _ so glad to see his fake-colored contacts.

They were doing that thing where they were  _ ridiculously  _ shiny, just like at the bar when he was being giddy with Aigami. And he felt bad, because he realized he had tried to  _ unravel  _ Yugi’s externally happy and slightly disastrous self. By the end of the night, Atem realized Yugi had probably tried  _ very  _ hard to get himself to the place he was at. And, he wouldn’t ruin the thing about Yugi that intrigued him the most and made him smile more than anything.

But he still wanted to know everything about him.

Shit eating grin, good days, bad days, all of it. 

“Kay,” Yugi grinned, bit his lip as he pulled his phone out and called someone.“Hey! It’s your favorite asshole.” Yugi’s face was illuminated by the screen against his cheek.  Atem just watched him talk, tried to catch a glimpse of his tongue piercing and he had no fucking  _ clue  _ why he was doing so. 

“I  _ knooow  _ the park is closing in 5 minutes, but can you just… leave shit on for like an extra 20, maybe? No. Nah,  _ nah,  _ you can close the bar if you want. Unless you wanna deliver some drinks. No, just the waterpark. Like, the first…” Yugi groaned.  _ “Ugh,  _ no, be  _ cool _ don’t fucking transfer me to Seto. No, wait, I-” Yugi rolled his eyes and tapped his foot.   _ “Fine… stupid fuckin’, ugh, Seto’s probably all shitty because it’s past his bedtime or somethin’ like that, if he says no I’ll cut his hair or some shit-  _ Hey! Seto! I was wondering- …Yeah. I  _ know,  _ I know, but- oh, oh come  _ on.  _ No, it’s just me and my friend. Yes, only  _ one  _ friend, I promise. Oh, shit, yeah, it’s Atem. The guy you auditioned that looks like me, I bumped into him this morning after I left your office. He’s a pretty cool guy.”

Atem’s eyes widened and he got nervous.  _ They’re talking about me. Seto Kaiba is talking about me. KCR and Silk!! are talking about me. _

“Yeah, I-  _ no,  _ I won’t do  _ that,  _ no.” Yugi laughed. “Unless you’re bored and you wanna join. I’m sure we could fit you in the middle-” he flinched away from his phone. “Holy  _ shit  _ I was kidding, dude. Jokes. But… please? I’ll pay for the expenses, ‘kay? Please?  _ Please,  _ don’t be a-” He grinned, stomped his feet lightly. “ _ Hell  _ yes, thank you. Love you babe. Fine, Seto. Okay, sorry, goodnight  _ Mr. Kaiba.  _ Hah. ...Thanks, buddy. See you.” 

Yugi hung up the phone and grabbed Atem’s hand. “C’mon. Seto decided to be  _ lovely _ and let us wander around a bit longer.” 

Atem trailed along and they left the fountains behind. “Yes, but the  _ waterpark?  _ I didn’t bring anything to change into.” 

“Pff,” Yugi looked at Atem over his shoulder and Atem had never seen him look so winded down. “That’s fine, nobody’s here to say anything. Maybe the staff. But I mean I’m paying ‘em all extra to stay and do nothing. I mean, they  _ probably  _ won't say anything, unless you try and like, skinny dip or something. But I mean if you  _ wanna  _ I’m down.” 

Yugi laughed and picked up the pace when Atem babbled over his words, nearly tripping over the marshmallon plush when he let it hang too close to the ground.


	6. TRACK 6. Phantom II

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, everyone, long time no upload.  
> So I figured I'd write a little note. I actually wrote and revised this chapter over a year ago (along with all the other previous chapters), but simply lost the confidence to post, and figured this story wouldn't be missed anyway.  
> I made a lil post on my tumblr (username is the same as here, if you want to say hi!) and I was surprised to see the amount of people that wanted to see this story continued over the other ones I have written.  
> It meant a lot to me, and this story, too, really does mean a lot to me.  
> This chapter concludes the first half of the story and I look forward to posting more in the future. Oh- also, warning for sexual content.  
> Thanks, guys.  
> xoxo

The waterpark entrance was _grand,_ a beautiful silver coated iron gate. An attendant was standing nearby with a probably-fake-smile, he let Yugi and Atem run through before the gate was closed once again. The waterpark was empty but most everything was still running. There were a few staff members cleaning various things, but the water still shined, and the lights were _so fucking beautiful._

There were small lights along every walkway, blue, white, and pink. If it _could_ , Atem would’ve sworn the Candyland board game threw up all over the water park. But it did it in the most _gorgeous_ way possible, not at all like normal vomit.

“Alright,” Yugi set the plushies down on top of a brick encasing for flawlessly cut shrubbery. “If you wanna set anything down here, you can. The only people that could steal anything are the employees and _trust me,_ it wouldn’t settle well for their jobs or any future ones at that. Plus, cameras and shit near the front entrance. You know. Justice, and shit.”

Atem emptied his pockets, wallet and cellphone set aside. “Okay. Well… I don’t really know what you’re planning. But I’m not getting in the water.”

Yugi bit his lip and smirked, pushed his bangs behind his ears. “Sure. Yeah. I’ll just show you around.”

They walked from slide to slide, from water shooting _thing_ to water shooting _thing,_ fountain to fountain. And it was like an underwater hallucination of what one might call a date. Atem was okay with this, and so was Yugi apparently from the amount of times he laughed at his own jokes and flailed Atem’s hand around with his own as they walked.

“Okay, okay, so. This one is the _best_ one.” They stopped in front of a giant… green jar with a frightening face. There was a floating faucet above it, water pouring endlessly. Atem looked up at the thing.

“Please explain, Yugi. I kind of… I don’t know if I like it.”

And he should’ve taken more precaution to just _how_ mischievous Yugi looked. But he always looked that way to a lesser extent, so Atem didn’t pay any attention.

“It’s called The Pot of Greed. Kinda spooky, but it’s another Duel Monster mascot. Kinda. Nobody really likes it, I don’t know why the _fuck_ Seto thought it would look good. But just wait, it’ll do something…” Yugi snorted. “ _Really_ cool.”

They both stood there, heads tilted upwards and staring. Yugi’s grip on Atem’s hand loosened.

“I… What does it do?” Atem asked.

Yugi was mumbling something to himself, squinting to look at the hinges the jar was attached to.

And then the jar began to tilt.

“Hey Atem, do you think I’m attractive?”

“What, I,” Atem tried to respond coherently to the question but he was quickly cut off by Yugi’s hands shoving him below the jar, and Yugi stumbled away as fast as he could.

The jar tipped completely, _bucketloads_ of water falling and soaking Atem and the area around him _entirely._

Atem stood completely still, eyes wide in shock, water cascading down _everything._

Yugi was crouched close to the ground, cackling _hysterically,_ both of his hands wrapped around his stomach as he tried to compose himself.

“You…” Atem was still frozen in place.

“Dude, I’m so, _hah,_ I’m _SO,_ I’m so fucking sorry, just, oh my _GOD,_ your face, I,” he stopped talking to catch his breath.

“You…You little _bitch,”_ Atem laughed to himself and he started to _sprint_ to where Yugi was.

Yugi shot up, “oh _SHIT,”_ and he stumbled into a run.

But he didn’t get very far.

Atem was _way_ more athletic. He grabbed onto Yugi’s waist with soaked hands and lifted him over his shoulders.

“What the _fuck?!_ Put me the _fuck_ down I will fucking _destroy_ you, you fucking shit!”

Yugi continued to shout and fuss, limbs thrashing in every which direction he could manage. But Atem was too strong and he had no difficulty in pacing himself over to a poolside.

Yugi glimpsed at the water and began to kick harder. “No, no no _NO,_ fuck you, fuck you don’t you fucking dare-”

But Atem dared. He peeled Yugi from his shoulders like a pissed off cat and lunged him into the water.

Yugi fell without grace, water splashing everywhere.

And Atem didn’t think it would look so fucking _funny._

He sat politely on the tiles, laughing more than he had _ever_ remembered himself doing.

Yugi swam sloppily to the ledge Atem was sitting by.

“For the record,” Yugi was shivering, a shitty looking frown that was trying to prevent a smile from emerging on his face. “I fucking _hate_ you.”  

“I bet you do,” Atem replied kindly.

Yugi hoisted himself over the ledge and sat next to him. He grabbed his cell phone from his pocket and noticed Atem staring at it in baffled fascination that the screen was still lit up.

“It’s a waterproof cellphone. It can also take a good hit, which is nice because I tend to be a fucking idiot sometimes.”

Yugi set it next to them, and Atem kept on looking at it.

“Huh.”

“Well, I’m fucking cold now, ‘cause of you.” Yugi sniffled. “Dick.”

“You started it.”

Yugi dismissed him with a grumble of incoherent words and they got up, continued to walk down pathways. Hand in hand. Teeth chattering in nearly perfect unison.

Yugi pointed somewhere to their right, where small open pool was with a cheesy rock border and a fake waterfall behind it. Lights underneath illuminated the water, and steam danced above it.  

“I’m getting in there. It’s fucking cold out.” Yugi kicked his shoes off, watched them land somewhere in the distance and mumbled about how expensive they were before stepping in the water. He looked back at Atem expectantly.

Atem looked around. The sky was completely dark, clouds floating about.  He was surprised he could see stars at all. “Aren’t we supposed to leave in a few minutes?”

Yugi slouched his body on the bench underwater. “Eh. Probably. If you wanna stand there, that’s fine, I won’t push you in here or anything. I’m not _you_.”

Yugi closed his eyes and Atem realized he must be tired. He quickly changed his mind though because he assumed Yugi never slept. He decided he was just relaxed.

He descended down the steps into steam and took a seat next to Yugi, clothes and all.

“So…” Yugi started. “What… whatcha think about KaibaLand?” He grinned. “Glad you came?”

“Yes, I suppose I am glad. I don’t think I’ve had this much silly fun in years. If ever.”

Yugi laughed, scooted closer to Atem. “Hah, wow. Just _wait,_ I’ll have you go to one of my parties that’re coming up. They’re fun as fuck, I’d like to think.”

“Maybe,” Atem replied. Yugi was quieter than he ever had been, and _damn it all,_ somehow with all of Yugi’s sporadic indecency, he was managing to be polite. He was sure that Yugi wanted to be doing so much more, but after all that was said, done, and stopped between them he was waiting for Atem to make any calls.

And something about the lights and the smell of chlorine and vapor on his neck, Atem thought _why the fuck not._

“Yugi?”

“Me,” Yugi replied stupidly.  

“Can I uh…” Atem sighed. “I guess, like, sit in your lap? Or whatever. Whatever people do, I don’t fucking- I just wanted to make sure-”

Yugi didn’t even laugh, that’s how nice he was being. He grabbed either side of Atem’s waist, suggesting he straddle either side of Yugi’s hips. And Atem did. He could feel warmth _everywhere._ Yugi’s face was cold when his hand touched it, but his mouth was so warm. And somewhere in the back of his head, Atem knew that things would go a little bit further.

Why _wouldn’t_ they, Atem was somehow fortunate enough to have someone presumably drop a few thousand dollars to keep a waterpark running for a short ...date. He kissed Yugi with more intent than before and he knew he was still sloppy. He hoped that him _wanting_ to would be enough of a trade for his lack of experience.   

It seemed to equal out fine because Yugi’s teeth caught his bottom lip all the same, and a hand slid to the dimples on Atem’s lower back. The entire experience was surreal, the way Yugi didn’t need to lift his shirt up because it floated so slightly in the ever moving water. The lights, and the sound of water. Atem had never imagined he’d be graced with something so magically _cheesy_. He sighed when Yugi’s hand was stupidly high up on his thigh again, and it lingered long enough for Atem to slap it away. But he didn’t.

Instead, he welcomed it by reciprocating and feeling Yugi’s stomach, smooth and warm under stupid water. His hands cupped around his hip bones, and Atem decided he liked them. Yugi wasn’t in amazing shape; he had no need to be. Just had a slight pudge on his hips and under his belly button. So he was just, he was so _soft._ Yugi’s lips smiled against his, and their lips barely separated when he spoke.

“So… what _are_ you up for doing, then?” His voice was low and husk, slick and wanting. One of Yugi’s many… colorful personality choices.  

Atem thought about it, mouth parted, still feeling lips ghosting on his.

“Uh.”

_Well, shit._

“I… just, not. Not sex.”

Yugi lost his soft demeanor and laughed, so accidentally close to Atem’s ears that it hurt. “‘ _Kay._ That leaves, like. A _lot_ of stuff. How about I just kinda lead a little and if you don’t like it, you can do your back-slap thing. Or maybe just say no thanks.”

Atem was fully embarrassed now. It wasn’t like sex _didn’t_ interest him, he just wanted to… wait. Yet Yugi treated him like he was 13 and curious.

But then again, Atem knew he wasn’t being very helpful either. So he let it go.

That, and there were still _employees_ around.

“But what about being seen by someone?”

“Hah! At this point they should _know_ better to be around when I’m alone with someone,” Yugi chortled.

Atem frowned. “Interesting. Okay.”

“Seriously, though. I don’t wanna like, do anything you aren’t-”

_Oh, fuck this,_ Atem thought, as his hands held onto Yugi’s shoulder. He cut him off with lips and teeth. Yugi made a small noise into Atem’s mouth, and his fingers dared to trace the band of Atem’s underwear eventually. When no opposition was made, Yugi’s hands found the button and zipper of his pants, making quick work to undo them both.

Atem exhaled through his nostrils, admittedly fucking _excited_ about how this felt. Sure, in the privacy of his home he had got off as many times as someone else his age had at that point, probably. But _any_ time he was lucky enough for a man to make an advance on him (being gay was still really fucking frustrating sometimes) he would still turn them down.

He just didn’t want to waste his time with a stranger, he was worried about attachment and all of that, and he was _way_ too lonely to have his heart ripped out by someone he met five minutes prior for a quick handjob.

So he usually just glared.

Except for that one time he got shitfaced and hit on Aigami, and immediately flinched because he thought Aigami was going to hit him with his fist. He didn’t, though, the fucking yellow laser beam glare he had did enough damage as it was.

Atem got pulled from his thoughts when he felt Yugi’s tongue jewelry click against his teeth and Yugi’s hands trying to lower his underwear despite the shit angle. He caught on, lifted his hips, and slid his clothes down as much as he could.

He was a little grumpy about the thought of an employee seeing his ass, but honestly he didn’t really give much of a shit anymore. He was _way_ too horny at this point and despite his reserved nature all he really wanted was to feel Yugi’s hands because _why the fuck was he taking so long_ and then Yugi kissed him harder, tongue swirling around his own, and there was a hand wrapped around him.

This was all so incredibly inconvenient and odd, trying to get a handjob in someone’s lap, in a hot tub, at a famous theme park. And he was _really_ fucking warm. Everything was.

Yugi’s hand was moving slowly and Atem had _no_ idea when he had started to moan into Yugi’s mouth quietly.

He loved it, it shot bliss through every piece of him even if the angle was _still_ shit and he was probably going to pass out from chlorine, heavy steam, and _everything_ about the situation.

Suddenly, Yugi retracted his hand.

Atem whined something childish and stupid, Yugi just smiled at him, teeth showing and all. “Here, there’s a, uh. Cave-y thing that leads to a slide nearby. The waters like, I dunno, 2 inches or something like that. My hand is fuckin’ _killing me, and_ as much as I’d love to make you to a radical screaming hot mess in here I’m _way_ too relaxed to try and be devious, so.” His fake colored eyes changed with the pool lights. “C’mon.”  

Atem just stared at him. Dazed. “Okay.” But he didn’t move.

Yugi chuckled quietly and helped him up, and they left the hottub. Atem held his shorts together as decently as he could while they were unzipped. The cave was indeed not too far, and it was _perfect._ The water was thin at the bottom, tiny lights underneath that lit up the white walls with more soft and pink hues.

Yugi lead him in and they both sat against the wall. Side by side. The sound of water rushing nearby.

“So... “ Yugi smiled softly. “You’re fine if I like… continue, here, or whatever?”

Atem felt his face get hot. _Someone was probably going to get him off that wasn’t himself. Well, shit._ “Yeah. Yeah, that’s, ...that’s fine.”

Yugi smiled and leaned his shoulder over, kissing his lips. Atem’s hands immediately found refuge under Yugi’s shirt, tracing the slight feeling of ribs. And that allowed Yugi’s hand to be on him again.

But this time, Yugi’s fingers were tighter and they moved faster,  his wrist rotating slightly when it reached the top.

Atem made a pitiful noise into Yugi’s mouth, and their lips separated. They were touching, just barely, but all they could feel was exhales between them. He wanted to try and at least do _something_ for Yugi considering all his advances, and one of his slightly trembling hands fell from Yugi’s ribs to his hips, thumb tracing down the skin until it reached the top of his underwear.

But once again, the angle was shit, so the best he could do was move his hand down a little further until it was cupped against the slight bulge in Yugi’s pants.

Yugi exhaled audibly, and Atem’s fingers found the outline of his dick the best he could, and rubbed through fabric.

“Press harder,” Yugi sighed, and Atem rested his forehead against Yugi’s shoulder. He did as Yugi said, and in turn, the hand around him began to move faster.

Atem moaned quietly against Yugi’s collarbone, forgetting about the hand between Yugi’s legs because he was just _too_ fucking high off of the feeling he had. _Yugi was really good at this._

“Ah, I’m… _fuck,”_ and Atem wasn’t really sure what he intended on saying. He was completely fucking lost.

Yugi’s lips nuzzled against his cheekbone, breathed onto his earlobe. “You sound _way_ too fucking good, Atem _._ ” His voice was a hushed murmur, and it shot _something_ up Atem’s spine, and _something_ to his groin, the feeling making even his feet tingle.

“Keep going,” Atem voice was barely above a whisper against Yugi’s skin. “Keep…”

Yugi’s hand suddenly sped up, making smaller but more rapid flicks of his wrist.

Atem’s hands suddenly gripped onto Yugi’s back, nails digging slightly. “Keep… _mmmh!”_ He let out a shaky moan, quick breaths, and a final shuddering exhale.

Yugi’s hand slowed down, and then it stopped.

And they just sat there for a while, in that cave, feeling each other's breathing patterns against skin, and warmth in their bodies. Also, Atem was dazed as fuck.

Eventually, he straightened his posture and leaned against the cave wall, light headed and kind of sleepy. It was past when he usually went to bed, and then there was the chlorine, and… Yugi.

Yugi leaned against the wall next to him, and rested his head on Atem’s shoulder.

“I… thanks, for that.”

Yugi laughed. “No problem. Anytime. _I think_.”

Atem felt his mind whirr, and he felt like saying stupid things.

“Well, um… if you ever like, want… I could try and give you a handjob sometime. I’d probably suck at it, though.”

Yugi snorted. “Sucking is fine too. _Hahaha._ ”

Atem slapped his leg.

“Ow.”

A sudden chime was heard in the hallway, and Atem nearly hit his head on the wall behind him in surprise.

Yugi’s head jerked towards the speaker in the tunnel.

 

_“Mr. Muto, Mr. Kaiba has allowed you the maximum time to stay and we need to begin closing the park. If you and your guest could start heading to the exit, it would be greatly appreciated, thank you, and have a good night sir.”_

 

Atem barely heard the announcement though, because Yugi was obnoxiously blowing raspberries at the intercom. He was still slightly dazed, legs parted slightly with his pants unceremoniously pulled to his mid-thigh, staring blankly in Yugi’s direction.

“C’mon buddy, we gotta go. Kaiba’ll fuck me if we don’t get outta here.”

That snapped Atem out of wherever the fuck his mind was.

“... _Fuck_ you?”

“Hah!” Yugi grabbed Atem’s hands and pulled him to his feet. His legs were shaking slightly. “Not like, _actually_ fuck me, that’s stupid. Just, be mad or whatever.”

Atem frowned. Readjusted his clothing. “Okay.”

“You’re easy to throw off, you know that?” Yugi stuck his tongue out and caught it between his teeth, his piercing visible and stuck there.

“Shut up,” Atem mumbled. And he thought about Yugi’s tongue jewelry when they walked out of the cave. That, and his hand. _Oops._

But then Yugi’s (other) hand grabbed his and they walked down the beautiful tiles, with all the lights and the decorative fountains and all. They only stopped for a brief second at one of the bathrooms so they could ensure they were at least somewhat presentable and clean.

The employees only looked _slightly_ bothered when they walked out the front gates, Yugi hugging a few of them on the way out, even though he was still soaking wet.

The car ride to Atem’s was filled with soft music and casual conversations, and then the car stopped and Atem realized it was over.

_It was over._

Yugi put the car in park, and looked over at him.

_The night was over_ , and it kind of made him sad.

Atem was full of ideas, and he just … _wasn’t ready_ to call it quits.

_“What the fuck”_ was the only thing running through his head when he blurted out out a question:

If Yugi wanted to stay the night.

Yugi leaned forward, hands crossed over the steering wheel, his cheek pressed against the back of his hands. “You sure about that? I’m quite the cuddler. _And_ I’ll need something to wear unless you want me to get your bed wet.” _Shit eating grin._

Atem raised his brow, stared at the dash. “That's… okay.”

_Cuddling in warm clothes sounds nice,_ he meant to say.

_Whoops._

He had only had people over a few times, only those rare nights when Mana and Mahad stayed over and slept on the couch. Everything back then would certainly be more innocent in comparison to the type of “sleepover” he wanted to have now.

As much as he loved the other two, there was no way in _fuck_ he’d cuddle with either of them. But here he was, letting an obnoxiously sexually charged (but then again, so was he earlier) _acquaintance/date/friend_ sleep in his bed. After spending another fifteen minutes to try to find fucking streetside parking, they headed inside.

 

! :^) !

 

“‘Kay, won’t touch anything unless you tell me, I _will_ break something probably. Hah. Got any food? _Fuck,_ we should’ve hit a drive-thru or something on the way here, like, _shit,_ I really want a grimy burger, you know? Like the kind you know you _shouldn’t_ eat because it's probably going to shorten your lifespan by three days, but like, you eat it anyway, you know?”

“... _What?_ I can’t _hear_ you Yugi,” Atem tried to speak over the noise of the shower. “Please just... wait until I’m out.” Yugi had been seemingly leaning against the bathroom door since he got in and he did _not_ stop talking.  

“ _What?!”_ Yugi yelled. “Sorry, can’t hear you, the shower!”

Atem didn’t respond this time, he just smiled and sighed. Washed his hair. Shut the shower off a minute or so later.

“Atem, do you drink?” He heard Yugi bump the back of his head (probably) against the door. “Fuck that was a _stupid_ question of _course_ you drink. Sorry. I meant like, at home? Do you have any liquors or beers or anything?”    

Atem was entertained by just listening to Yugi’s thought process, dried himself off. “No. I have some wine, though.”

Yugi sighed so dramatically it came out as a very annoying high pitched whine.

“Take it you don’t like wine then.” Atem twisted the knob of the door and pushed against it slowly and firmly against the obstacle on the other side.

Yugi rolled out of danger and sat in the hallway.

Looked up at Atem.

Atem was wearing a soft grey t-shirt that had a faded design for some tourist location, big letters and cheesy ocean tides. Maroon pajama bottoms that looked like 1970’s gym shorts. Messy shower hair that fluffed in any direction.

“...What?”

Yugi looked down. Back up to Atem’s face. “Nice legs.”

Atem huffed. “Well, I mean. I exercise almost daily. I _have_ to for work. And,” he tried to pull his shorts down slightly so more of his thighs were covered, “I don’t like sleeping in pants or anything. It’s uncomfortable and twisty.”

“Sleep naked then,” Yugi offered with a stupidly suggestive smile. But it was playful.

“No thanks,” Atem replied as he walked over to his room to grab Yugi similar clothes and a towel.

“Oh my _God_ do I get matching shorts?” Yugi’s eyes were full of fake astonishment. Atem felt his face flush from petty embarrassment.

“They’re… blue. _Not_ the same.” He handed the clothes over. “ _I guess.”_

“...Take your dumb shower, Yugi.”

Yugi only showered as long as the hot water lasted, and Atem smiled to himself when he heard him shriek.

“You coulda _told_ me your hot water only lasted five fucking minutes,” Yugi grumbled, drying his hair vigorously with a fluffy towel.

Atem shrugged. “I mean, it’s not like anyone really stays the night here often, and I have no reason to shower _twice_ within an hour so I never run out of water for myself.”

“Pff. You just wanted me to freeze.”

“Mhmmm,” Atem replied softly.

And they both found themselves warm and soft in Atem’s bed. His room was neat and clean, a decently sized TV mounted on the wall. There were photographs scattered in frames, a small shelf with an assortment of trophies. _More_ porcelain cats. A bookshelf, mostly lengthy novels with some movies stacked on the side.

There was a record player close to the bed, Atem got up and played something quiet and nice. Yugi recognized and appreciated it, to his surprise.

When he tucked himself back in bed, he looked over at Yugi who was hugging a pillow that he was squeezing the fucking life out of with every limb on his body. “I like your room. It’s all… old fashioned and cute.”

Atem grabbed the remote beside his bed. “Thank you.” He muted the volume so only the record was heard, and started flipping through channels. Yugi flipped through things on his phone.

They sat like this for a while, and it was late now. Atem’s eyes were starting to fuzz out. The feeling of the bed, _someone else,_ sheets and warmth, it was soothing enough for the remote to fall out of his tired hands.

“So. I guess we aren’t gonna bang, then?”

Atem’s eyes opened just barely, hardly aware that he had closed them in the first place. He tilted his head towards Yugi, whose face was distorted into something ugly as he tried not to laugh.

_“...What?”_ Atem breathed. He usually would’ve been asleep hours ago. Yugi seemed to still be wide awake.

“I’m kidding, just bored, and you’re tired, and _ugh._ Maybe I’ll have some wine, I’ll probably pass out sooner. Do you have a keyboard? Piano? Not-broken-computer? A fucking xylophone? How do you _do_ this-”

“No talking.” Atem shifted next to Yugi, tried to decently cuddle up next to him but ended up more or less falling into his lap. He was already drifting to sleep.

Yugi raised his brow, looked down at him. “Holy shit, that was fast.” He ran his fingers through Atem’s slightly damp hair, felt the fabric of his shirt.

Yugi was happy, though. He knew how good he was at being convoluted. He was so used to joy, flinging himself around from show to show, person to person. But nothing felt as quiet as this and he forgot these times even existed at all.

He found himself missing the quiet nights he used to have, just for a second. If this had been any other date, any other night, he was sure they would’ve had sex by now, because that’s how it worked. He didn’t have an issue with it, he enjoyed it.

But he never saw himself being as happy as he was with someone in bed next to him wanting to be spooned, nothing more, nothing less. And he started to feel kind of tired.

Maybe sleep would be good, just this once.

So he didn’t say anything. He just lifted Atem’s head gently and tried to lean him back onto his own pillow.

The other man was barely conscious, mumbling incoherent words while adjusting himself to sleep on his side. Yugi scooted forward, threaded his arm under Atem’s, around his waist. Hip against hip, legs against legs.

Atem whined something, shifting his body.

“Hey,” Yugi said quietly. “Don’t move your ass too much. I can only handle so much tease. Haha. Just kidding. Laugh at my jokes, or something.”

Atem said something. Probably. But Yugi barely heard it. He only stayed like that for a while; trying to spoon someone the same height as he was ended up being a problem. _Way_ too much of Atem’s hair was irritating his face.

So Yugi turned on his other side and pressed his back against his. He missed how warm his bare skin was, just for a little while. So Yugi pressed his feet against the back of the other man’s calves.

Atem breathed lightly in his sleep.

Yugi stared at the wall, watched how the TV illuminated and shifted the colors in the dark room.

“I like you a lot. That’s so weird, isn’t it?”

Atem responded with a shift and a small snore.

By some fucking miracle, Yugi fell asleep shortly after.

The needle on the record player passed over the last groove, and the final song ended.

The needle lifted itself, moved over to its holder.

And the record stopped spinning.

  
  


**END OF ‘A’ SIDE**


	7. TRACK 7: Valentine (I)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise!!! An upload, how nuts is that?   
> Little note here, Though this story is divided up into 12 chapters/sections, this chapter ended up very, VERY long. So, I decided to break it up into multiple uploads!   
> Hopefully that gives me incentive to actually finish posting the rest of this story so it doesn't rot in Google Docs forever. 
> 
> Love y'all ;*

 

The smell of food seeped into the bedroom, and it was the only thing that could’ve woken Yugi up before noon. He rolled over and found that Atem was missing. 

_ “The fuck,” _ he mumbled. The TV was off, and the record player was closed. He slid out of bed, arched his back as he stretched, made an unattractive and strangled sounding moan-yawn. He dragged his feet down the hallway and into the kitchen. 

Atem was there, pouring batter into a waffle press with intense precision. All of the cooked waffles looked  _ perfectly  _ shaped. 

But they looked….  _ Healthy. _

“Coulda woken me up, you know,” Yugi said, leaning on the counter next to Atem.

“Oh trust me, I tried,” he slapped away one of Yugi’s fingers that made its way into the batter bowl, “you just didn’t want to get up apparently. Holy  _ shit  _ though, you like to cuddle in your sleep. It was a bit annoying, honestly.” 

Yugi shrugged, licked off any batter he was lucky to salvage off his finger. “Sleepy me is  _ real _ me, you know.” He furrowed his brow. “This batter is like… barely sweet. What did you  _ do  _ to them?

“They’re nutrient dense,” he stuck the tip of a fork into a fresh waffle sitting in the press, pulled it out gently. “I use a lot of health-centric ingredients. Like, I don’t know. Flax seeds, oats and stuff. They’re  _ still  _ pretty sweet to me.” 

Yugi groaned, waltzed over to the kitchen table and climbed into one of the chairs. His body lazily flopping onto the table, face against the surface, one arm draped over the edge. 

“You should like… kill them with like. Chocolate syrup or bacon or something.” 

Atem dragged the last waffle out of the press and onto a plate. “I have syrups and such but no bacon.” 

_ “Why?”  _ Yugi groaned. 

“Jesus,” Atem muttered. He had a hard time believing that Yugi was older than him let alone past the age of 12. “Here,” he handed a plate to him.

Yugi eyed a coffee pot on the counter. “Can I have some?” 

Atem set a mug in front of him and got his own, and they both started to eat. But he barely got a chance to chew because Yugi  _ kept on asking questions. _

“Do you have any creamer, like the flavored kind? If you have vanilla I’ll fucking cry. I’m  _ so  _ tired and I’m sure these waffles won’t do shit to wake me up-- fuck though, if they’ll make me lose a pound or two and get as ripped as you are I mean I’ll eat a few.”    

Atem sighed. “I have milk and sugar, that’s it.” 

“Pfft. You’re so  _ bland.  _ Gimme those, then.” 

Atem huffed again and got up, grabbed the requested items and set them in front of Yugi.

Yugi eyed the carton, squinted at it before dropping his head onto the table.    
Atem saw Yugi’s shoulders flinch slightly, because the fucking idiot actually banged his forehead on the wood and it made quite the impressive noise.

_ “Soymilk?  _ You’ve  _ got _ to be fucking kidding me.” 

“I’m vegan. I don’t have any dairy milk,” Atem muttered into his mug, eyes closed. 

Yugi shot his head up, draped his body over the back of the chair. 

_ “Groooooooooosssssssss.”  _

“Don’t eat my food then.”

Defiantly, Yugi chose to eat everything as fast as he could. Atem watched and smiled, but he was kind of sad. He knew as soon as breakfast was over, Yugi would most likely be leaving. 

And then he’d be alone once more. Then again, Yugi was mentally exhausting just to look at, and he probably took a few years off of Atem’s life just in the few weeks he’d known him. 

He was right, as soon as breakfast was over (and after Yugi admitted the waffles good) he started packing up his things. And then chose to linger in Atem's room.

“So,” Yugi was lying on his stomach on the bed, flipping through assorted things on his phone and playing music quietly, “are you gonna hang out with me again?” 

Atem blinked. Frowned. Thought of yesterday, everything they did. The amusement park, the ferris wheel. The tunnel they sat in. The bar, KCRecords. “Yeah. I mean, I was kind of hoping so. Why do you ask?”

Yugi grinned, pressed the lock button on his phone and threw it across the bed. “Three things. One, I think you’re fun and I like being around you. Two, you’ll have a bigger shot at making it past auditions for the Luxor gig because I’m like Seto’s only friend and I can slip a good word in for you. Third, my clothes from yesterday are crinkled, wet, and fuckin’ gross from the waterpark so I was wondering if I could borrow these pajamas and probably give them back later?” 

_ “Probably,”  _ Atem scoffed. “Yes, sure.” 

Yugi rolled forward on the bed and planted his feet on the floor hard enough for the wall shelves to shake. “Oh and  _ fourth,” _ he was face to face with Atem now, playing with his tongue jewelry with his teeth, “I’m having a big party this weekend. You should  _ so. Totally. Come.” _

“Should I?” Atem was watching the metal ball in Yugi’s mouth. “You are  _ so  _ strange sometimes, you know that?”

“Am I?” Yugi grabbed his phone and made his way out of the bedroom. “I’ve been called worse.” He turned and looked at Atem from over his shoulder and  _ damn it Atem thought Yugi looked cute in his pajamas and he had cute legs,  _ his bangs falling over his shoulder slightly. 

“So you gonna come hang out then?  _ Trust  _ me, you haven’t experienced a party until you’ve been to one of mine. Free alcohol and drugs, but if you don’t do drugs you can just have the alcohol and there’s dancers too, but I assume you’ll probably just spit at them ‘cause you’re all professional and kinda quiet and probably don’t like the idea of strippers, but there’ll be lots of people and I’m sure you’ll make some buddies and you can say hi to Jou but not Seto ‘cause he  _ always  _ ignores my invites and nobody wants to be a Set-”

_ “Okay.”  _ Atem met him at the door. “This all sounds like a terrible idea, but sure. I’ll go. However, if I die somehow I’ll haunt you and spill drinks on your head forever.” 

_ Shit eating grin.  _ “Deal. Trust me if anyone’s going to die at one of my parties, it's going to be  _ me.  _ I don’t let other people be terrible idiots if I can help it.” He smiled sweetly, now. “Only me. Oh, and you’ll probably end up seeing my ass or hear me say something really really inappropriate, or I might do some pretty gross shit. Just a courteous warning.”

“...” 

Yugi opened the door, stepped forward and kissed Atem on the cheek. “See you.”  

He started to walk away, but Atem trailed after him with bare feet down the hallway. “Wait, I can. Um. I can walk you to your car.”  _ He felt like a cliche idiot. _

“Sure, that’ll get you brownie points.” 

Atem frowned. “Stop.” 

“‘Kay,” Yugi laughed, and he grabbed his hand. And Atem remembered again, that yesterday was real. He also couldn’t help thinking about his hand and what hands could do. 

Atem blushed.

And they were standing outside now, feet burning on hot pavement. It felt selfish, but all Atem really wanted was for Yugi to say “maybe I can stay a bit later” and maybe just make out with him a bit. 

So he just stood there while Yugi opened his car door and looked at him questioningly.

“You… okay, dude?”

Atem blinked. “Yeah, yeah. I just… I’m not busy for a while. If. If, you want to hang out a little longer.” 

Yugi shrugged, let go of the car door. “I’d love to, but you wouldn’t  _ believe  _ the death threats Jou’s giving me right now for just kinda disappearing, you know. That, and I got to talk to Seto and a few other music geeks. You know, stupid work stuff.”

Atem bit his lip. “Oh. Yeah, of course.” 

But Yugi wasn’t oblivious, he picked up every notion that was expressed through Atem’s body language. “Sorry,” his voice was quieter, “looks like I can’t stay and roll around with you in your bed. But I can leave you something to mull over when I’m gone.”

Yugi grabbed his hand, sat down in the car seat and pulled Atem down to kiss him. Hands wandered, tracing the waistband of Atem’s shorts, disappearing underneath his shirt to feel skin. And  _ damn it  _ Yugi was an excellent kisser, the way his tongue moved had a rhythm of his own, and Atem could only hope he mirrored him well enough to not embarrass himself. He was doing a damn good job for a while too, until he felt a hand shift from his sides to his hips, to his thighs, then he felt fingertips move up, underneath his shorts and to the lower curve of his ass. 

Atem’s eyes opened and he pulled back. Yugi was grinning, biting his lip.

“Where’s your underwear? Or do you just walk around in shorts and nothing else every day? Did you wear underwear to KaibaLand just for  _ me?  _ I feel so spe-”

He was cut off with Atem’s lips back on his, and his bottom lip between Atem’s teeth. Atem wasted no time in his actions, and his hands were firm against Yugi’s sides, sliding down to feel the soft fabric that was snug against his inner thighs. Suddenly Atem’s lips were gone and sucking skin at the crook of his neck, one of his hands made an advancement to press firmly in between Yugi’s legs, fingers feeling around him the best they could through soft clothing.

_ “Aah,”  _ Yugi sighed, an accidental moan slipping from his lungs.

Suddenly the hand retreated, and Atem stood straight, looking down at the blushing and bothered man in the car. 

Yugi was still recovering from embarrassment due to the stupid noise he made, and Atem was  _ grinning so fucking wide. _

“Mull over…  _ that. _ ” 

Yugi blinked at him, laughed and started his car. “Don’t  _ ever  _ say that again. Holy shit. Like,  _ damn  _ that sounds strange coming from you of all people.” 

“And a pretty moan coming from you-”

Yugi pointed his finger at him and cut him off. “Now  _ that  _ was an accident and if you go gossiping to  _ anyone  _ about it, I’ll find out, and stuff those vegan waffles you love so much down your throat until you choke to death.” 

Atem smiled, leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “And don’t you forget that I could probably snap your neck with my thighs alone.” 

“Yep, you adorable freak of nature.” Yugi licked his cheek, put the car into drive and it began to roll forward. “See you at the party!” 

“We’ll see,” Atem replied bitterly, trying to wipe Yugi’s stupid saliva off his face.  _ What the hell _ .

_ “ACTUALLY FUCKING TEXT ME BACK THIS TIME!”  _

Atem flinched, Yugi’s voice echoed loudly and he was sure every woman and child within a mile could hear his profane shrieking.

He waved at him and ran back inside to avoid the possibility of being nagged at by strangers with noise complaints. When the door to his studio shut, he leaned against it and looked at the mess in the kitchen. He hadn’t checked his cellphone yet or much at all since the day before and he was sure Ishizu had plenty to nag at him about. But it was still relatively early, not by  _ his  _ standards anyway, but he knew how the rest of the world worked. He thought of Yugi’s voice and last night. He thought of things he felt  _ bad  _ for thinking about, but  _ fuck it.  _

Yugi’s face, his fingers,  _ his tongue and that stupid piercing,  _ what his skin felt like under his shirt, what Yugi’s hands under his own felt like. 

He looked at the kitchen again,

Then the hallway that lead to his room. 

“The day can wait,” Atem muttered. He felt his cheeks get hot. “Stupid Yugi.”

And he shut the door to his bedroom behind him and fell into his bed. 


	8. TRACK 7: Valentine (II)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back at it again with another part of this chapter B^)  
> A bit of a warning, though: there is a flashback in this chapter that contains physical violence and just relatively darker/depressing themes.  
> Thanks, everyone. I wasn't expecting to get so much positive feedback from the last chapter. Every single word means the world to me. Thank you.

The morning rush of traffic still hadn’t cleared yet. Yugi was stuck at the _same fucking light for like five minutes,_ his head sticking out the window, blowing cigarette smoke on his side view mirror. He only smoked about half of it before tossing it; he remembered Atem might choke him out if his pajamas smelled like anything but perfectly clean cotton.

There was something about wearing _Atem’s_ pajamas that felt nice. Maybe it was because his clothes didn’t smell like mistakes, alcohol, cigarettes and weed to begin with. Or maybe it was because Yugi wasn’t just borrowing someone’s clothes because he threw up on the ones he was wearing previously.

Either way, he didn’t want Atem’s clothing to smell like shit. He absently grabbed the collar of the T-shirt and smelled it.  

 _“The fuck, dude,”_ Yugi muttered. He loved the way Atem smelled, actually. He didn’t seem to wear cologne or a perfume of any kind, it was just _him._ So he couldn’t put the scent into words even if he tried.

Yugi frowned. _I wonder if I smell good._

He found himself pulling into his driveway, cursing to himself because Jou’s car was parked there too. He grabbed his shit and stood at the front door for a few seconds before swinging it open loudly.

_“Honey, I’m hooome-”_

“Where the _fuck_ have you been?! You didn’t answer _any_ of my texts or calls. You could’ve been dead and I only would’ve been _a little_ surprised.” Jonouchi was standing next to _Yugi’s_ couch, trying to look like an angry mom but Yugi couldn’t take him seriously. Not with all the PlayStation controllers, games, and shit strewn about. Chips and empty chinese takeout boxes.

  
“Only a _little_ surprised?” Yugi flopped onto the couch next to him, lifted his thigh and picked off a smashed popcorn kernel.

Jou sighed. “I… just try and at _least_ tell me if you’re going to be gone okay?”

“Okay, mom.”

Jou looked over at him, watched Yugi scratch his thighs in boredom and flip through his phone. He squinted his eyes. “Do you even know whose clothes you’re wearing?”

“ _Oh!”_ Yugi hunched over suddenly, hands slamming down on the glass coffee table so hard Jou was surprised he didn't just crash through it. “Shit, yeah I never told you. Remember bar fart guy?” He shook his hands a little when he lifted them.

Jou sighed. _Dumbass._ “Yeah I remember him. You talk about him a fucking _lot,_ and… you told me his name before, I think he’d appreciate if you referred to him by that, rather than--”

 _“_ Yeah whatever so anyway, we actually ended up bumping into each other yesterday after I went to go see Seto, right? Well I ended up dragging him to KaibaLand and we made out and dude it was _adorable_ . I think I gave him his first hand job. Kinda seemed like it y’know, because he was just like _whoa_ and all that and I’m sure that I’m the fucking worst at giving hand jobs because, I don’t know I usually end up messing around with women. Maybe dudes stay away from me because they think I’m stinky or something. Oh, anyway, then we went back to his place, okay--”

Jou sighed, put his head in his hands. “Listen, buddy. I bet you had a _great_ time at his house, but if you’re going to start going into vivid detail I’m gonna leave the room.”

Yugi leaned forward again, put his hand on Jou’s shoulder. “Nah, dude, get this. We just. Fell asleep. And then he made me _breakfast._ Like it was dumb vegan waffles with nothing to put on them, I mean they were good, but like. He made me _breakfast_. But the night before we just… hung out? And fell asleep?”

Jou sighed, smiled. “Sounds like you met a decent human. Congrats.”

 _“Nonononono._ Like. He also let me _borrow_ his clothes because mine were wet-”

_“Why were your clothes wet?”_

“Oh! We fuckin’ fought in the waterpark but whatever, but like dude _feel_ these shorts.” Yugi’s leg was abruptly thrown onto Jou’s lap. “They’re the softest shit.”

Jou laughed, snapped the waistband of the shorts and pushed Yugi’s leg away. “Dude, close your legs. Those shorts are _too_ short for you and you’re not wearing underwear.”

“Shit, yeah. _Right,_ though? Like I mean these are _his,_ he just like… wears them around the house but I have no idea how his dick doesn’t just fall out of them. Like, maybe they won’t, but I don’t want to risk it. Hahah. That would look so fucking strange, wouldn’t it?”

“He probably wears underwear, Yugi. Can we change the subject-”

“But I mean, like. I dunno, girls are lucky. They can just _wear_ shit like that and not worry about gross dicks. And they make them look astronomically cuter, especially when like. A bit of asscheek is falling out you know? But _nobody_ likes falling dicks. Not to say they weren’t cute on _him,_ because like, wow he’s got some tone. I don’t. Maybe that’s my issue. But, what’s the saying? Beauty is in the eye of the bees, or something? So like, maybe he thinks I look cute in them, but I just don’t. Don’t know what that saying has to do with bees, though.”

“... That’s not how that saying goes. So how did KaibaLand-”

“Like these are so _breezy_ and shit but my floppy hairy thighs don’t do them justice, you know?”

“Your legs aren’t floppy.”

“But like, Atem’s legs are so _nice_.”

“Yugi, he’s a dancer. I think they have to be. Also, he works out and stuff I assume.”

“But he shaves them too! Like, I don’t wanna shave mine cause you’ll be fucked to think I’d deal with stubby prickly legs once the hair grows out but like… had I known we were going to have a leg contest I would’ve.”

Jou sighed. “Again, dancer. Body hair isn’t really attractive or desired for performers like him.”

“...So am _I_ not attractive?”

“No, you are, but-”

_“Hahahaha.”_

“I swear to _God_ I’m going to slap you.”

“Oh! Yeah, also he was auditioning for the show I’m playing at the Luxor.”

Jonouchi sat up, looked at him incredulously _._ “The fucking _Luxor?_ Like, in Vegas? You didn’t tell me about that! How the _hell_ did all of this happen yesterday?”

Yugi shrugged. “Seto’s an asshole and didn’t tell me about it until he was super deep into planning so I couldn’t back out or try and change how the show ran, probably.”

Jou stared at the paused TV screen. “Well, I’m happy about the whole Luxor thing. Tell me the details later, though I’ve got a _splitting_ fucking headache. Probably from you, in these last five minutes honestly.”

“Love you, babe.”

Jou stared at Yugi for a moment, at his plain blue eyes. He could see brown at the roots of his hair, where it blended into his bleached bangs. The purple hue of the rest of his hair was faded slightly, it needed a touchup as well. He thought about how far Yugi had came, how he managed to stay so damn _jolly_ no matter what happened. He almost felt _guilty_ for being sad around him. But Yugi could be _so_ accidentally _or_ intentionally self destructive, and Jou could do very little except for help him into bed when he got _way_ too drunk, and decide whether or not to run him to the hospital when the drugs were kicking his ass. He had to bail him out of short jail sentences a few times, and pull him away from bar fights before Yugi got pummeled to shit _._ The fights were usually justified on Yugi’s part, but he _always_ threw himself in fist first without thinking about whether or not he’d realistically win. Yugi really had a good heart, but his physical well-being was _always_ considered last. A few months back, he and Yugi were at the Golden Feather when a disgustingly burly man was harassing another woman.

_Jou watched Yugi’s eyes shift from his drink to the man over and over again while he was babbling, and he felt uneasy._

_“Yugi, quit looking at them. It’s fine, someone’ll take care of it if something goes bad.”_

_Yugi sipped at his frilly daiquiri, turned to look at Jou intently.  “Dude, she looks uncomfortable as fuck. Like, this guy needs to take a hint before I fucking punch him.”_

_“I’m being serious,” Jou shouted over the loud music. “The staff can escort him out, or last resort, let me fight him. But Yugi, that man is triple your size. Don’t be an idiot.”_

_Yugi didn’t say anything, just hunched his shoulders and absently chewed on his straw, kept on staring._

_The woman still looked uncomfortable. The man was way too fucking close, hands way too grabby. And Yugi felt his heart racing, he was fucking livid, baffled that nobody else was paying attention. Nobody fucking cared._

_“Yugi? Hey. Buddy.”_

_Yugi ignored Jou, kept on watching. Quit chewing on his straw. The lady started to get up to leave, took her handbag and clutched it to her side._

_“Yugi. Hey, look at me.”_

_The man grabbed her arm, hard, and sat her back down._

_Yugi shot out of his chair._

_“Yugi!” Jou was going to grab Yugi’s arm, but he didn’t. He didn’t want to parent him, and some part of him was hoping that Yugi would civilly ask the man to quit being fucking disgusting. So he sat back down, but he watched closely._

_Yugi walked over to the two, rested his elbows on the table. “Hi,” he grinned cheesily, “my name’s Yugi, nice to meet you.” He turned to the woman, pointed his thumb at the man. “This guy bothering you?”_

_“Fuck off, kid.” The man reeked of beer and sweat, and Yugi could feel his filth when the man grabbed his arm and shoved it off the table. “She’s fine.”_

_“No,” the woman started to get up again, steps a bit wobbly from drinking. “I’m not fine, actually. This man won’t leave me the fuck alone.” She stumbled next to Yugi’s side. “I’ve been trying to bullshit excuses to get away from him but he’s fucking pushy.” There was a slight slur to her words, and her movements were sloppy._

_She held onto Yugi’s shoulder, said her gratitude and asked if she could borrow his cellphone to call a ride. He handed his phone to her, and she stepped back a little bit for privacy._

_“C’mere,” the man said._

_Yugi pointed at himself questioningly._

_“Yes, you, dumbass. Come here.”_

_Yugi leaned closer, folded his arms across the table._

_“You idiot. She was a fucking dime, and you scared her off. Who the fuck do you think you are, pointing your tiny fucking girly fingers at me and telling me what to do?”_

_Yugi grimaced, but still laughed after a moment. “I think she’s allowed to do whatever the fuck she wants. Plus, y’know, consent is kind of a bottom of the barrel requirement for being a decent human, yeah? Fuck off, maybe?” Yugi shifted his fingers in tiny waves. “Also, these ‘tiny girly fingers’ have gotten more girls off than your ugly grease ones could ever hope for. Do you even fucking wash those?”_

_The man’s lip trembled, and his breath smelled horrible when he spoke._

_“Do you have a fucking death wish or something?”_

_Yugi shrugged. “Nah, not really. Just telling the truth. You smell like ass, that’s all. Not good ass, either. Not that you’d know the difference or anything.”_

_The man stood from the table, towered over Yugi by at least a foot. “Say that again, you delicate flower-looking fucking girl.”_

_Yugi craned his neck to look up at him, purple eyes wide and serious. “I’m not scared of dunces that step on other people just to get off, you deprived, putrid-smelling monster.”_

_But the man was drunk, and he was pissed. He obliged with Yugi’s taunts and shoved him backwards, hard. Yugi stumbled back a few feet, nearly falling over until his hands latched onto a table behind him._

_“Shit,” Jou cursed to himself, got up from his chair and made his way over. As much as he wanted to cheer him on and see him win, the reality was that Yugi was tiny. He was barely 5’1” and his physique was terrible. But if strength was determined by heart and willpower, he’d tower over everyone._

_Yugi already recovered from the blowback and ran towards the man, fist drawn back. But the man’s arms were longer than his and he pushed him away easily with one arm, the other twisting back then forwards. Fingers curling into a fist. The hand collided with Yugi’s jaw and the side of his mouth hard enough for him to fall back again, but his hands were too busy holding his face and trying to catch his balance for him to grip onto any piece of furniture._

_“Fuck off!” Jou shouted at the man, but there were already staff members crowding around, holding back the yelling drunkard._

_“I’ll fucking kill you, little shit! ” And he sure looked like he meant it, stumbling around furiously and trying to shake off anyone in his way. Yugi had fallen over entirely, propped on his elbows from the dirty floor. And Jou knelt beside him, held him up. Yugi’s mouth was dripping blood, hopefully from a cut on the inside of his cheek, and not from an absent tooth. And the whole situation felt terribly nostalgic, because Yugi didn’t say a world. All he did when Jonouchi pulled him to a stand was glare. He just glared at the other man, and Jou felt guilt, remembered the school grounds and Yugi’s brown hair._

_“C’mon, Yugi.” But Jou didn’t see the point in talking anymore, Yugi was ignoring him entirely because his eyes were still burning holes into the shouting man. People crowded around, acquaintances and friends asking if Yugi was okay. Aigami was dabbing his face with a clean bar towel, others were taking pictures. Everyone was trying to get Yugi’s attention, but he didn’t avert his eyes from the man until he was forcibly exited from the bar._

_The girl from earlier walked up to them, she was crying from stress probably, Yugi’s phone in her outstretched hand._

_“I’m sorry,” she sobbed. “I’m sorry. I’m going to go now, but, thank you. And I’m sorry.”_

_And for some reason, that snapped Yugi out of his daze._

_He smiled at her, but winced immediately because it only furthered the bleeding and pain from his mouth. “Nah, don’t be sorry,” he spoke around the blood in his mouth, “the guy was an asshole, and I’m just an idiot, y’know?”_

_He took his phone back, traces of perfume and expensive lotion on the touchscreen. Yugi frowned._

_Jou finally convinced all the staff and the others that wanted joyrides to see Silk!! in the hospital that they were fine to go on their own, as long as they could keep the bar towel they used to prevent Yugi’s face from getting too gross in the car._

_The car ride was quiet, Jou changing lanes aggressively and passing everyone. And for the first time since they both could remember, they didn’t play music, not even the radio. They both were too tired to keep up any acts of cheerful dishonesty._

_“Are you pissed at me?” Yugi was staring at the dash, voice slightly muffled because he didn’t want to move his mouth too much._

_“...No.”_

_Yugi didn’t say anything, just watched car lights fly by._

_“Actually, I lied. I am pissed.” Jou sighed. He sounded slightly irritated most of the time, but Yugi could tell. Jou was genuinely upset and that alone made everything so much fucking worse. “I fucking_ _told_ _you Yugi, that if you felt the need to fuck with that guy, you should’ve called me over! You stood absolutely no chance against him. At all. You’re the smartest person I know, so why the fuck do you do such dumb shit like this?”_

_Yugi didn’t say anything._

_“Look. I know you like to do what you wanna do, and you don’t like being held back. That you like to… I don’t know, not be a hero exactly, but, stand up for whatever your cause is despite the consequences. But there’s a line somewhere between standing for a cause and just being reckless and self destructive. You crossed that line waaay--”_

_“Just like you said, I’m not stupid Jonouchi.”_

_Jou paused, grit his teeth and kept on driving. Yugi rarely ever called him by his full name._

_Yugi leaned his head back against the seat. “I already am very aware of everything you’re telling me, okay? I know that guy was fucking huge. I knew that I was going to get my shit kicked in. I know that I could’ve just called you over like an attack dog to fight my battles for me. But I’m just, not going to fucking do that. I’m not.”_

_“Yugi, I get what you’re saying but still, trying to fight a guy that’s clearly out of your league isn’t noble. All it’ll get you is a bloody face like you’re sporting right now, or fucking dead, or something.” He laughed, but he was angry. “And what a fucking way to go out, right? From a stupid fight like that? Is that really-- I just, I don’t, ugh, if you understand what I’m saying, just don’t fucking do it then! It… it’s just fucking stupid, Yugi!”_

_“I get it. I get it, okay? But still, I just…” Yugi closed his eyes. “I get it.”_

_They were nearly to the hospital now._

_“Not only that but… I really care about you, Yugi. But I’ve driven you to the fucking hospital more times than I’d prefer to. You drink too much. You smoke too much. You’ve OD'd on countless types of drugs, and you have absolutely no fucking care for your physical well being. And, I don’t know Yugi. I’m just worried that one of these days I’m going to drive you to the hospital but I’m not…” Jou sighed, scratched at his cheek. “I’m worried that one of these days I’m not going to get to drive you home.”_

_They pulled into the parking lot, didn’t speak for a moment._

_“...You care so much if others around you are hurt. If anyone at your parties drinks or takes too much, you cut them off. But, you? No. You keep on going. You make sure they have water and all that. But you don’t get yourself any. You even fucking card people when they walk into your damn house to make sure minors aren’t there. I’ve even seen you stick your fingers down people’s throats countless times because they decided to take too many tabs or drank a lot or whateverthefuck they did. But you? Nah, it’s good. Go crazy. I know you think you’re selfless, and all that. But remember for a quick fucking second that every time you pass out or injure yourself from stupid shit, everyone is worried about you.”_

_Jou turned the car off, sighed and pressed his head against the steering wheel._

_“I’m sorry,” Yugi replied, voice muffled and quiet._

_“Don’t apologize, just… you’re smarter than this. Why don’t you care about yourself?”_

_Silence._

_Yugi readjusted the cloth on his face._

_“I don’t know. Don’t worry about it.”_

_Jou pressed his palms into his eyes. “Don't?_ _Don’t?_ _Yugi--”_

_“Hey buddy, I’m gonna bleed and slobber all over this fucking car if we don’t go inside. Let’s get my face fixed before we go on rambling, yeah?”_

_Jou opened his mouth to say something, thought about it, and then shut it. Instead, he opened the door, and so did Yugi. They stood in front of the car for a moment, Jou with his hands in his pockets, Yugi holding the bar towel to his mouth and staring at the lights from the hospital windows._

_Jou sighed, put his hand on Yugi’s shoulder._

_“You’re the most important person in the world to me, you know that, right? You know that’s why I say all this, right?”_

_“I know, Jou. I know.”_

_He shook Yugi’s shoulder lightly, and then they headed in._


End file.
